Two Shades of Green
by GoldYoshi
Summary: He waited seven, long years for a new adventure. But now, with Faith lying within his soul, the final warrior has come to our world seeking to end the battle of the Soul Blades.
1. The Darkest Hour

**Author's Note:** Well after a year and a half of planning (and figuring out how this works), it's time to get this show on the road! Hope you enjoy it!

I don't own the Legend of Zelda series nor do I own the Soul Calibur series. All that stuff belongs to Nintendo and Namco respectively.

**Chapter 1 – The Darkest Hour**

The task that was given to them by their Master was one of utmost importance. If they succeeded, they would break her so-called 'unwavering resolve', leaving her vulnerable. But not to a defeat by their hands, no, their Master had become too clever for that. He knew that somewhere out there was that wretched sword that countered his strength, so why waste the opportunity for a greater army? She had proven herself to be a fine pawn to her Gods, and now he had the chance to make her a slave of _his own_. After all, what greater power was there than to twist the minds of potential threats and turn them into your greatest servants?

Although why this task was given to them was a mystery, especially since he had more capable servants. But this question never crossed their minds, for they were simply soldiers who marched under his banner, soldiers whose minds were so corrupted that their bodies changed to a hideous cross between a man and a lizard.

Perhaps the answer to this question was that it simply wasn't necessary. For they had arrived at the city during the night, located the house, and used their new abilities to climb up the wall and through the window into the bedroom of the one they were after, with no troubles whatsoever. They looked around the room and quickly found what they were looking for, a little girl with blonde hair, fast asleep in her bed. Now stealth wasn't required, as one grabbed the girl and, whilst she was screaming, placed her in the bag held open by the other.

Their task was done, now they needed to escape before any soldiers came. But just as they jumped out of the window, the bedroom door flew open. A man armed with a blade suddenly sprung through, looking towards the bed to see the girl was missing, and caught a glimpse of something leaping out the window to the streets below. He ran straight to the window and again, could just about see a pair of… creatures run down the street. He contemplated giving chase, but his fear stopped him from jumping down from such a height. Knowing there was nothing else he could do, the man screamed at what must have been the top of his voice.

"PYRRHA!"

But there was no response, it was hopeless. It seemed as though no-one in the world could hear his plea.

Except for one…

It was pure coincidence that he was passing through a courtyard, having not found an inn to spend the night at after a day of unsuccessful searching, before his senses suddenly told him that something was about to happen. Never being one that ignored these feelings, he perched himself on a rooftop that overlooked a group of houses and watched over them, like a gargoyle. His waiting eventually paid off, as he saw two creatures that looked very familiar to him climb out of a window. One of them carried a bag that had something in it. But he chose to watch as they ran past him, and it was then that he saw something moving inside the bag, along with muffled screams.

It was this that made him stand up, and watch as the creatures ran down the street. Behind him, he suddenly heard a man's scream that came from the direction of the house. He clenched his gauntlet-covered fists. Something _had_ to be done.

As the father regained his breath, he instinctively looked over to the rooftops of the houses opposite the courtyard. But he soon turned around and prepared to search for his daughter the hard way, as there was nothing that was out of the ordinary.

The watcher heard thunder rumbling in the background, this would make his rooftop sprint more dangerous, but he didn't care. He needed the advantage of being able to cut the corners of any of the turns the assailants took. They were much quicker than the average person, but he could see he was catching up to them, as any change in direction made meant he could keep his momentum, only requiring a short leap to jump over the alleyways. Any time they switched to the opposite side of the road, he simply used a device of his to latch onto any surface he could find, like a lantern, or a chimney guard, or a certain material used for some of the rooftops, and swung or pulled himself to the new position, allowing him to continue.

He chased them for a while, never losing sight of them. In fact it wasn't long before the watcher was slightly ahead of the creatures, and they still had no idea he was there. The rain now started to fall, but he knew the chase was coming to an end, as he looked ahead he saw a large wall, signifying the boundary of the city. He noticed that this section of the wall was in the middle of two guard towers, therefore being the section with the least security. He also noticed whilst it was impossible for anyone to jump over it, the positioning of the buildings at the foot made it possible for someone to climb onto it, and if these creatures could climb up a house, then this was certainly within their capability.

So he leapt down from the rooftop, and landed right in front of their path with cat-like precision, making them stop dead in their tracks.

The creatures were startled, they knew this was the most likely place to meet resistance, but they never expected someone to leap down onto the road. The person was hunched over with one hand on the floor, making his face impossible to see, but they _did _notice he was armed with a large sword and shield that were both strapped onto his back. But as the figure stood up they saw he was only a young man, no older than twenty, and while his physique was good for someone of his age, his clothing eliminated some of his masculinity, as he wore a simple green tunic with white skin-tight undergarments. Then his face became visible from under the green, pointed floppy hat he wore, and while the structure of his face along with his long, blonde hair gave off the look of a 'pretty boy', his blue eyes were cold, having the look of a warrior. But this wasn't what caught the most of the Lizardmen's attention; they were drawn to his ears, as they appeared human at first but then ended with a point at the tips. They both tilted their heads to the side. Although they were abominations to mankind, even they were perplexed by this youth's presence.

But he unfazed by their confusion; all he cared about was that they had something that wasn't rightfully theirs.

"I do not know if you can understand me," the young man said "but if you release the contents of that bag, then I _might_ let you live!"

They understood him, but there was no chance of them listening to him. The Lizardmen chuckled slightly as one of them drew its sword and shield. What could a pretty boy in tights possibly do to them? He probably couldn't even _hold_ that sword on his back, let alone _use_ it!

Seeing the beast draw his weapon was all that the young man needed to see. He slightly lowered his head, not taking his eyes off his new opponent. His left hand grabbed the blue hilt of his sword, whilst his right hand grabbed onto the hold of his shield. He drew them, and spread his legs into his fighting stance, giving a brief thought to how good it felt to be wielding the Blade of Evil's Bane into battle once again.

The rain was now falling more heavily, but the warrior didn't care. All he needed was eye contact with both of the monsters. Everything else seemed unimportant.

Whilst the young man seemed to enjoy this moment of silence, the beast soon became impatient, the longer they delayed the more chance there was of encountering the city's soldiers. With this in mind, the Lizardman charged towards the intervener and brought its blade down on his head, which was blocked by the man's own blade, eliminating all thoughts that he was unable to wield the sword.

Whilst they were caught in this lock, the Lizardman growled at its opponent in an attempt to frighten him. But it didn't work, as he simply stared at it with those icy, blue eyes. The warrior broke the lock by swinging the Lizardman's sword around and then off his own, causing the beast to stumble slightly. But it immediately recovered, attacking with its shield which was deflected by the intervener's own shield, and then unexpectedly somersaulting into the air in an attempt to kick him in the face. The intervener was surprised by the beast's flexibility, but dodged it. But he didn't expect a second kick to come straight after the first, and was caught on the chin.

He stumbled backwards slightly, but the Lizardman closed the distance and made a slice for the man's now exposed throat. But he managed to recover quick enough to duck down, avoiding the attack and kick the monster in the legs, which was immediately followed by a jumping kick to its head. The Lizardman was completely open to an attack, and the warrior swung his sword before lunging towards the beast's chest.

The Lizardman felt something smack against its chest. But when it looked down, it saw the hilt of the intervener's blade pressed against its body. It looked towards the young man in confusion, who simply looked back at it with a smirk on his face.

"One." he said, with a look of intimidation in his eyes.

The monster didn't know what he meant by this, but what it did know was that this fool just humiliated it in combat. But fortunately, he was stupid enough to spare it, a grave mistake. Perhaps it did underestimate him slightly, but that was a mistake he wouldn't live to regret.

The Lizardman took a swipe for the warrior's head, which removed the intimidating expression from his face, before he ducked under the attack and back-flipped away from the beast. It went back on the offensive with its sword once again being brought down on the young man's head, but he blocked it once again with his own sword. But this time he did more than push it off, as the beast's sword slid down his own, causing the Lizardman to stumble into the warrior, who bashed his shield into the monster's face. With the beast recoiling from the impact the warrior delivered a hard kick into his opponent's face, with such force that the Lizardman fell flat on his back, causing a big splash in the puddles of the cobble street. Before the Lizardman could recover though, the warrior had leapt up into the air and was descending into the monster with his sword held downwards.

The warrior landed with both legs on either side of the Lizardman's body and the blade made contact with its chest, but again, it didn't penetrate the skin. The Lizardman looked back towards the warrior, who had the same look in his eyes and the same smirk as he had before.

"Two." The young man said as he stepped back off the Lizardman, thus removing the threat of the blade.

The beast got up off the wet floor, giving off another growl. Only this one was of pure anger. It still couldn't figure out why this warrior was counting up, and right now it couldn't give a damn. It's pride was the only thing on its mind, and how low it was after being defeated _twice_ and spared _twice_. Both times it had to look at that smirk; he _knew_ he was better than it. But no more! The monster's rage had gotten the better of it, as it roared at its opponent and charged towards him one more time.

Strangely, the young man wasn't scared. In fact, his smirk intensified as he prepared for an assault. The Lizardman was now blindly attacking the warrior, using its sword and shield, along with all of its limbs and appendage, aiming for nowhere in particular. But with all strikes being either blocked by the man's own sword or shield or dodged completely, this attack was proving fruitless. But the beast didn't care anymore; it would wear him down if it had to. _Anything_ to wipe that smirk off his face!

But while the Lizardman was putting its strategy into action, the warrior was formulating his own. It was a risky manoeuvre but everything seemed to be going his way during this battle, besides he had never done it on this type of monster before, so why not see what happens?

Content with his reasoning the warrior grabbed both arms of his opponent as they came for an attack, and then swung himself underneath the legs of the Lizardman's wide stance, using the arms as support. He also narrowly avoided the tail, which had just recovered from a block before it got in the way. He let go of the arms as he passed under the beast's groin and slid across the slippery floor slightly, before standing up again, just in time to catch the monster's tail with his right arm while it staggered.

He then used this time to swipe his sword onto his opponent's neck. But once again, he stopped just as it made contact. Then those words that the Lizardman didn't want to hear came.

"Three." He said as he slid his sword off the Lizardman's neck.

The young man placed his foot onto the beast's back and pushed as hard as he could, causing the Lizardman to fall forwards. But as it got up onto its feet, it looked towards its companion who had stood watching this 'fight', it was pointing to where the warrior was, telling its partner in their tongue to "Watch out!"

It turned around, but did nothing as the man's blade was suddenly plunged into its chest; all it could do was cry out in agony. The precision was perfect, as it was right where the beast's heart was. It had a matter of seconds to live. The Lizardman used these final moments to look into the warrior's eyes. There was no smirk, no intimidating tint to his blue eyes. Instead there was just a look of sincerity, a look of having done this many times before.

As the Lizardman closed its eyes and lurched towards the warrior, he pulled the blade out of its chest, causing it to immediately fall to the ground, totally devoid of any life.

His gaze then shifted from his fallen opponent to its partner, who stood stupefied at its comrade but with the bag still in its arms. It eventually noticed the warrior's stare, and responded by reaching for its own blade and then pointing it towards the bag in a threatening manner. After a short pause, the warrior responded by sheathing his sword and shield, and the monster sniggered to itself, even the mightiest of heroes fall when another's life is endangered.

But suddenly the warrior reached both arms into a pouch on the back of his belt and revealed his bow and arrow. It was done with such speed, the monster could only realise this by the time the warrior was set up, ready to take the shot. The Lizardman hid itself behind the bag, making any chance of an instant kill impossible, not without giving the monster enough time to kill whatever was inside the bag.

Knowing this, the warrior aimed towards the monster's leg and summoned a little spell he knew that gave his arrows an elemental power. The power he summoned was Light, the one that drained his strength the most but guaranteed a kill as long as the opponent was evil. As the strength gathered in the arrow, a small yellow aura appeared around its tip.

The Lizardman took a peek around the bag to see what the intervener was doing, and saw that his arrow was suddenly glowing with a light that gave off a heavenly hum as the warrior pointed it towards the beast's legs.

Now it was trembling in fear. No matter what it did, this young man always had a way of making the situation worse for it. The monster's partner was dead, with itself being in grave danger with no way of avoiding it, all because their Master wanted some stupid little girl. No. Its partner may have been blind enough to die under their Master's banner, but this Lizardman was _not_ going to make the same mistake. It would rather hide from their Master than suffer death from either this warrior, or the city's soldiers.

The warrior was slightly confused when he saw the monster suddenly drop the bag and run in the opposite direction. He dropped the spell and lowered his bow. In all his years of fighting monsters, it was something he never saw before, one fleeing for its life. He was tempted to let it go, then reasoned that this all could have been a trick. The monster could have easily returned while he was not present.

With this in mind he raised his bow once again and summoned another spell. This one gave off a blue aura, and the sound of a deep, frosty wind. The effects of anyone being struck by this spell were horrifying, even to monsters. But with the beast being so far away a weapon that killed with one hit was needed, and it drained less of his magic power than the previous spell.

He released the arrow, and continued watching. But once he saw that the arrow struck his opponent's leg, he turned his attention towards the bag, as he walked towards it.

The monster fell to the ground, injured, but not dead. The pain was agonising, but it could still escape as long as it continued running. But as it tried to run, it found that it was not longer able to move the injured leg, and soon after, all feelings from it vanished. As it made its next step, it was unable to move any further.

It looked down, and was horrified at what it saw; its leg had turned to ice! This cemented its leg to the ground, halting its movement. But then it noticed that the ice was spreading upwards, consuming its entire body. The monster tried frantically to break free, trying to pull its frozen leg off the floor and then attempting to break the ice with its fists, but to no avail. Before long, only its head remained, but even that was covered, leaving a statue of a fearful monster made of pure ice.

But the spell did not stop there as the arrow kept producing ice, but since it had nowhere to spread to the ice simply intensified. Soon after it became so thick; it shattered under its own pressure. Hundreds of shards of the monster sprinkled onto the floor, now simply waiting for the sun to melt it away.

While this happened, the intervener cut the rope that bound the bag using a dagger he kept in his pouch. When he peered into the bag, a little girl suddenly sprang out of it, taking in a huge gasp of air. Even the warrior could feel how stuffy the air was in that bag.

The girl then took in her surroundings. She didn't know where she was, it was raining, and then she noticed a strange man looking at her. He had a smile on his face, and his eyes were full of warmth. But then she noticed his ears, they weren't like her families', or anyone else's for that matter. They looked like ones that she was told about in stories.

"Hello there," He eventually said "I am here to take you home!" he declared as he reached out for her. But she recoiled away from him with a look of fear in her youthful eyes, huddling a part of the sack as if to protect her.

It was now the warrior realised; he didn't hide his ears. Throughout the day he tucked his ears into his hat to blend in, which he figured was for the best after seeing how those he first met responded to him.

"Do not worry; I will not hurt you." He assured her, realising there was nothing he could do about it now. All he could do now was put on a big smile, and hope she realised he was not her enemy.

After a few moments the girl lowered the sack from her face, her eyes weren't so fearful anymore either. The warrior intensified his smile, ensuring her she had not made a mistake in trusting him. Then he noticed how wet her head was, as her blonde hair dulled in colour and stuck to her head. He then thought on of how cold she must have been, seeing she only had bed clothing to protect her from the rain. As if by instinct, the warrior removed his hat from his head and placed it on hers. She appeared confused by this at first, but then realised what the intention was.

"Come on, I shall carry you home." The warrior said as he prepared to pick up the girl, but did not do so until she quickly nodded.

He struggled to see though the intense rain, as his fringe now drooped over his eyes, but after regaining his bearings the hero ran back the way he came, with the young girl cradled in his arms.

…

Meanwhile, far away there was a castle that, for many years, had been derelict; totally empty of life. In a way that was still the case, for the creatures that took up the castle as their stronghold were simply pawns; slaves that, willingly or not, gave themselves to the demon who sat on the throne of the castle. Even though he didn't earn the position, he sat on it with such power that nobody questioned it. And never far away from the demon was his sword, which leaned against the throne, but looked as though it stood of its own accord. In fact to some, it looked as though the sword _itself_ was the one that was on the throne, as it gazed to its servants with its terrifying eye. He was a frightful creature, only respected by a handful of his servants, the rest simply feared him.

But suddenly his monstrous fist slammed on the arm of this throne, causing the majority of his servants to jump out of their skin.

"Soul Calibur?" He boomed "How can that damned sword be in two places at once?" He asked aggressively, even though the question was directed at no-one in particular.

He was confined to his castle, but that didn't stop him from being able to witness events outside the castle, especially those concerning his 'other half'. But the problem was he could now sense _two_ energies that were almost identical, both hundreds of miles apart from each other. But this new presence also felt familiar somehow, as though he had encountered it before.

"It makes no sense!" He growled in the utter confusion of the situation. The demon needed answers, and he knew that he was going to get them, one way or another.


	2. Calm and Hope

**Chapter 2 – Calm and Hope**

Although he had been running for only a few minutes, the young man could not help but notice how drenched he had become. But as the droplets fell off his face like a waterfall, his determination only grew as he started to run a little faster and protected the girl in his arms more carefully.

Due to this, it was not long before the hero had found his way back to the house he saw the creatures climb out of. The door was still open; making him hope that no-one had left the house unattended. He gently put the girl down, thinking she would run into the house and he would wait until he heard voices. But instead she grabbed his hand and pulled him as she ran to the door of the house. When they reached the entrance she let go of his hand while she continued onwards into the house, looking into each of the rooms she passed until she disappeared from the young man's sight, who remained outside.

However the noise created by the rain distorted the warrior's keen hearing. He contemplated simply walking away, but then he wondered what if she ran into another monster that was still inside? Feeling that the positives outweighed the negatives, he stepped inside walking lightly to the point where she disappeared from his view.

As the hero turned the corner, he saw the girl within a deep embrace of an older male, presumably her father. If his eyes were not deeply shut, the older man would have noticed the warrior overlooking them.

"Thank the Gods you're safe!" he heard the man say to her, giving the hero the feeling of satisfaction that he always felt when helping others in need. His mind went back to the time he broke a terrible curse on a young girl's father during his second adventure, all those years ago.

But knowing he was providing unnecessary panic in him being there, he turned back and started to walk away from this happy reunion.

"MONSTER!"

The hero jumped in fright, as he turned around to see the father and daughter once again. Only now the man stood up, eyes fixed on the warrior with a blade pointed towards him, bravely protecting his daughter as he held her behind his leg.

"You'll not take her again! Not while I'm alive!" he boldly stated, but with noticeable fear in his voice.

"I apologise sir, but-" the hero tried to explain, before he was unexpectedly interrupted.

"Wait Daddy, he made the baddies go away!" the little girl explained as she peeked around her father's leg, realising who was there.

This confused the father, as the look of determination disappeared from his eyes, but he refused to lower his sword. Seeing that he wasn't listening, the daughter eventually forced herself free from his grip and started walking towards the warrior.

"Pyrrha!" the father protested, still unsure about his daughter's judgement of this stranger.

Fortunately though, he trusted her enough to not stop her from approaching the young man. She stood in front of him, looking up to him as he looked down to her. She removed his hat from her head, and held it out to him.

"Thank you, mister." She said with a smile on her face, to which the warrior could only respond to by smiling back.

_Well, at least one person trusts me!_

He thought as he knelt down, making sure they were at eye-level. The young man slowly took his hat off her.

"You are most welcome," He said, placing a hand on her shoulder before continuing. "Now, you be a good girl for your father, O.K?"

The girl then wrapped her arms around the hero, an action that shocked him a little. But once the realisation kicked in, he too put his arms around the young girl, and closed his eyes.

When the girl let go of the embrace, the warrior opened his eyes once again and saw that the father had lowered his sword. He now looked at the hero with utter appreciation in his eyes.

"Hey Pyrrha, why don't we go and wake Patroklos up? Then you two can sleep in mine and your mother's bed tonight!" The father proposed to his daughter, with a tone of excitement towards the end.

"Yeah!" she responded eagerly, as she grabbed her father's hand and dragged him up the stairs behind them.

Before ascending, the father turned to the warrior.

"Make yourself at home, I'll be down shortly!"

The hero smiled and nodded towards the man. Once they were out of sight, he placed his hat on his head and looked around the house.

It was small, but quaint nonetheless. There were only three rooms downstairs: a hallway, which lead into the kitchen where he was now, then there was an archway to the lounge which was connected to both the kitchen and the hallway.

The warrior wandered into the lounge, and was immediately grabbed by the shield that hung over the fireplace. It was quite impressive but not the best he had ever seen, concluding it must have some sort of personal significance rather than simply being an ornament. He then noticed a large painting on the wall opposite. Again he had seen better before, but it was good enough for him to make out the details. It displayed six people; one of whom the hero instantly recognised as the man he just saw; and after looking closely, he also saw the girl, only she was barely a toddler. Then there was a man and a woman stood next to each other that appeared a lot older than the others, along with a young man who was next to them. In the centre of these people was a woman, who sat on a chair cradling something precious in her arms, with the hand of the man he recognised on her shoulder. She was dressed in blue and white, and had long, blonde hair with blue eyes, displaying absolute happiness. Her appearance also reminded the hero of the Princess of his land, who was also his greatest friend.

There was also another woman, who was crouched next to the little girl and looked as though she was holding the toddler in place. She looked incredibly similar to the woman sat on the chair, both in terms of facial appearance and clothing. The only noticeable difference was that she appeared younger, and had shorter hair.

"You wouldn't believe how long it took Cassandra to get Pyrrha to settle down long enough for that picture!"

The warrior looked towards the kitchen and saw the man standing in the archway.

"You have such a beautiful family." The hero complemented, looking back to the painting and seeing how everyone looked so happy.

"I know," The man admitted as he walked to the warrior's side "Though sometimes I forget that."

The two men stood staring at the painting, before the father broke the silence.

"Listen, erm, about before," The man paused, whilst the warrior looked to him. "Sorry about that! It's just that when I saw you ears," He paused again; he clearly wasn't comfortable in admitting his mistake.

The hero smiled towards the father.

"Do not worry," He assured him. "Just make sure to look after her tonight." He then advised as he started towards the hallway. He had done his part here, now he needed to get back to finding somewhere to stay.

But as he reached the door to the pouring rain, the father called out to him making him stop.

"Wait! Where do you live?" He enquired. "I've never seen you around before."

"That would be because I do not live in this city." The warrior answered.

"Oh well in that case, shouldn't you stay here for the night?" The father offered. "You can't wander in weather like this. The nearest inn is miles away!"

The warrior looked out to the rain once again. The weather didn't bother him, but why go through the discomfort when he could stay here? Plus he would have to pay for a room at the inn. He then turned his head over his shoulder.

"Are you sure it will be no trouble?" He asked.

"Definitely! Men like you can't go unrewarded in some way!" The father responded, with a tone that suggested the question was completely unnecessary.

"Very well then, I accept." The hero said, closing the door and turning back to face the man.

"Great!" The man quietly exclaimed. "The name's Rothion by the way." He introduced, holding a hand out.

"My name is Link." The hero responded, taking Rothion's hand with his own and shaking it.

"Well Link," Rothion said, putting an arm around Link. "Welcome to the Alexandra household!"

"Thank you very much!" Link replied feeling appreciated for the first time in a long time.

The two men spent the next few hours talking. Having said that it was mostly Rothion telling Link about his life, as Link avoided such subjects since it was difficult to explain and it wasn't really necessary. But he enjoyed listening anyway and Rothion seemed to enjoy talking, so both of them were getting what they wanted.

"Say Link, is it alright if I look at your blade?" Rothion suddenly asked looking to Link's sword, which was placed in its scabbard on the wall with his shield behind the men.

The conversation was then awkward for Link since, as far as he knew, the Master Sword only allowed one person to wield it.

"Err sure." He eventually answered, before standing up, getting his sword, unsheathing it, and handing it to Rothion, hoping it wouldn't somehow retaliate.

But as he took it off Link, all that happened was Rothion grunted at its weight, which surprised Link slightly since the Master Sword always seemed weightless when he held it. Rothion placed the sword on his lap and examined the entire blade, from its majestic blue hilt to the tip of its seemingly glowing blade.

"This is a really beautiful sword. Such fine craftsmanship." He complemented, running his hand down the blade. "Where did you get this?"

"Somewhere… far away." Link eventually settled with for an answer, but then saw the disappointment on Rothion's face. "But it does not matter; the Master Sword is one of a kind."

"The Master Sword, eh? It's a fitting name!"

Rothion returned the sword to its scabbard and changed the subject. Eventually tiredness got the better of both men, and they agreed to retire to bed.

In truth though, Link wasn't that tired. He never was during most nights. Both of his adventures meant he never really had time for sleep, particularly his second where he had to stay awake for three days straight. It was a habit that never died. Thus when he retired to the room that was offered to him by Rothion, he spent most of the night sat on the chair positioned in front of the window, and simply stared into the outside world, reflecting on the day's events.

This world was so different to what Link was expecting. When he heard of a world that was so engulfed by evil to the point where it seeped through into other worlds, he imagined it would be a dark, barren wasteland where no life could ever exist. Then he remembered that horizon he saw when he arrived, the horizon that displayed the sheer size of this city, along with the beautifully clear sea and mountains as far as the eye could see. For the first time since he stepped into Hyrule Field eight years ago, Link was breathless.

Then he remembered that incident where he saved a pair of travellers from bandits just outside the city. Where even after he saved their lives, they ran away from him in fear, causing Link to tuck his ears into his hat in order to hide them and prevent that from happening again, until he pulled it off when no-one was around only moments before he saw those creatures, it caused some discomfort but it was worth the price.

Link's mind then went through the memories of wandering around the city, and how amazed he was by the architecture of some of the buildings; it was as though the lives of the builders who constructed them were dependant on the end result. He was also amazed by the amount of people in the city, every corner Link turned there was always something happening. Even though the majority of the citizens refused to answer Link's questions, he couldn't help but marvel at the life of this city. At times he forgot he had a mission to complete.

And it wasn't until now he realised that mission had now become more complicated, for not only was the fate of Hyrule in his hands, but also this world. Not only that, but this world seemed a lot bigger than Hyrule; it look him an entire day just to explore part of one city! If other days were like the day just gone, then he was going to be here for a long time…

But as his eyes became heavy, Link concluded that he simply had to look harder. There _had_ to be a reason the Goddesses brought him to this city, and as Link lied down on the bed and shut his eyes, his final thought was that he was going to find it, one way or another.

…

As Link opened his eyes to the new day, his first thought was how well he had slept. Even though it was late morning and he had a busy day ahead of him, Link didn't feel the urge to get out of bed.

_I think I deserve a lie-in._

He reasoned within his mind as he turned over to his other side. Given the opportunity Link would never be considered an 'early-riser', in fact his first adventure _almost_ didn't occur due to his laziness.

Eventually Link heard the front door to the house open, and subsequently heard Rothion, along with his children; Pyrrha and Patroklos outside. He pondered about this but then remembered Rothion saying something about informing a passing solider about the kidnapping of his daughter last night, and how he would have to go and tell them that she returned in the end.

About half an hour later, he heard the trio return. But as the children entered the house, a male voice suddenly called out.

"Rothion!" It bellowed with a great sense of urgency.

Link immediately sprang out of bed and drew back the curtains of the window. He knew a bad situation when he heard one.

Not too far away from the house was a man who was approaching Rothion with a woman staggering next to him, using him as support. She was clothed in a simple white dress, had a small sword in a scabbard by her hip, and a small shield strapped to her left arm. Link recognised her as the woman on the chair in the painting, but she appeared so weak, she was barely limping, and had no look of happiness at all. Instead, her eyes were filled with utmost fear.

"Sophitia!" Rothion shouted back, running towards the pair.

Rothion put her spare arm over his shoulders and helped carry her. But as they reached the front door, she couldn't carry on. The injuries on her legs were causing too much pain and she gave up. Upon realising this, the men placed her gently on the floor. Rothion knelt down next to his wife and clasped her hand between his own. Their eyes met, both filled with utter panic.

"What happened?" he solemnly asked, on the verge of tears.

"The children," she said through the heavy panting. "Where are they?"

"They're inside. They're fine." Rothion responded. She obviously knew what happened last night, though he didn't understand how.

The fear within her eyes suddenly disappeared. Replaced now by such relief, that they began to well up. It was as though hearing those words lifted the weight of the world off her shoulders.

"May the Gods… be praised," She weakly said, just before closing her eyes and becoming completely motionless.

"Sophitia?" Rothion called out. "Sophitia!" He repeated, seeing she wasn't responding.

Still watching from the window, Link decided now was the time to intervene. With no time for his full clothing, he threw on his tunic and his boots. He then leapt out the open window, landing skilfully next to Rothion.

"Link!" Rothion called out in surprise.

"Please, allow me." Link pleaded to Rothion, with a serious look in his eyes.

Rothion didn't know what Link could do; nothing short of a miracle would help his wife. But then his mind went back to the previous night, a miracle occurred then because of this stranger. And if Link thought he could do something, then who was Rothion to doubt him?

The husband stepped away from his wife and Link took his place. His right hand went under her head and lifted it slightly. His left hand then hovered over her face, and Rothion saw a strange symbol appear on the back of Link's hand; three triangles positioned so that one triangle was placed on the tips of the other two, with the bottom-right triangle glowing a golden light. This hand then moved down her body and then back up again a few times, never making contact with her body.

Eventually Link clenched his fist, and the symbol disappeared.

"She is alive just very exhausted," Link assured him. "All she requires is rest, and a lot of it." He then diagnosed.

"We'd better put her to bed." Rothion suggested and Link nodded in response, before picking up the woman, carrying her into the house and up the stairs.

Rothion turned to the other man, who stood in awe by what he just saw.

"Thank you so much Argus, I owe you one!" Rothion said, wanting to avoid having to explain what just occurred.

"Yeah sure, no problem." The man quickly said as though he wanted to get it out of the way before continuing. "Hey Rothion, did that guy have pointy ears?" He then asked.

"It's a long story," Rothion sighed. "Thanks again!" He repeated before quickly going into the house and shutting the door before anything else could be said.

Link gently placed the woman down on the bed and looked at her. Her body was so battered and bruised but her face looked so peaceful, it was as though she was willing to go through all that pain just to hear those words from Rothion. He then looked to the back of his left hand, while he was using his power to check her vital signs he saw that his Triforce shard was resonating slightly. Link's first impression was that she was also a carrier of a Triforce shard. But that was impossible since there were only three parts to the Triforce, and Link knew for a fact that all carriers of those shards were very much alive. So, he concluded that she must have some other form of divine power that was similar to the Triforce.

But before Link could think about this further, Rothion came to his side.

"Sorry about that Link. The children are asking questions," Rothion said. "Could you tell them there's nothing wrong, and look after them for a bit while I clean up her wounds?" He asked.

"No problem. I shall just get dressed first." Link responded, passing Rothion as he walked towards his room.

"Link," Rothion called out before he exited the bedroom.

"Yes Rothion?" Link answered as he turned around to face the father.

"Thank you… again," Rothion said, turning his head so that he looked at Link over his shoulder. "That's twice now I'm indebted to you."

"You owe me nothing." The hero corrected the father, with a smile on his face that showed he was genuine.

Rothion turned around to face Link, but he was already gone. He didn't know who Link was or why he was here, but he did know that without Link, his life would have been torn apart. As he thought of this, smile appeared on Rothion's face. It was nice to see that there were still those in the world who would always strive to help others.

Link now understood why the Goddesses sent him here. They must have known she was returning from a long journey. They also must have known her daughter would be kidnapped on that night, an event that undoubtedly would have been disastrous if it had succeeded. How she would contribute towards his efforts, he did not yet know. But he was determined to find out, if it meant him waiting for her to recover then so be it.

The smile on his face grew larger. Finally, the pieces were starting to fall into place.

**Author's Note:** That's right folks, this is _another_ Soul Calibur story with Link in it! Though I hope this doesn't put too many people off this...

In other news incase any of you didn't know, Soul Calibur V has been announced! To be honest I can't see how Namco can expand the story after Soul Calibur IV, but there we go, they must have found an excuse. On the off-chance that a key member of the team is reading this, I have two requests: 1) Put it in a Nintendo platform, and 2) Get Link back into the ring, so I can throw them out again!


	3. The Delayed Meeting

**Chapter 3 – The Delayed Meeting**

Although the corridors of the derelict castle were dark and cold, there was one servant who still skipped through each one joyfully, with her eyes gleefully shut and a huge smile on her face. Her attitude made her appear very out of place, not only because she was a young woman acting like a little girl, but also since she was surrounded by nothing but fear and malice.

But in truth, she fitted in _perfectly_.

She was absolutely thrilled that her Master had summoned her again, she was afraid that she was no longer his favourite after she failed spectacularly with her last task. The consequences of which were disastrous, especially for her. But she miraculously recovered, albeit with devastating effects. But she was a firm believer that what ever doesn't kill one makes one stronger, and in her mind that's exactly what happened.

As she was skipping down the corridor she suddenly bumped into someone, nearly causing her to lose balance. And at that moment the smile totally vanished and her eyes shot open, revealing what seemed to be the eyes of Death itself.

"Watch where you're-" the man began to say before looking to the woman, "Oh, Tira. I should've known."

She had to fight hard against the urge to kill him right there and then, not only did she hate every gut in his body, but she also hadn't seen blood for a long time, her shattered mind was craving it. She knew though that her Master wouldn't be happy with her if she killed one of her fellow servants, and failing him again was the last thing she wanted.

So even though her fists were clenched tightly and her teeth were grinding together, she ignored the man and walked around him. But he stepped into her path again, forcing her to look at his ugly mug again.

"Off to see Lord Nightmare, are you?" He asked patronisingly, "Wonder how he'll punish you this time!" He chuckled.

Her eye twitched slightly as her rage built up, nearing the uncontrollable level. She looked down his body and saw his sword strapped to his waist.

_I could easily just take that sword, and jam it into his chest…_

Her spine tingled at that very thought.

_Then I could slash his throat and let the blood spray onto me, and then use it to poke his eyes out, and then use it to carve that smirk off his face, and then…_

She fought hard to stop her mind from continuing. She had to get away from him to stop herself.

"Get out of my way Solnhofen, before I cut your heart out!" She threatened.

But as he heard those words and looked into her eyes, then at her trembling arms and clenched fists, he couldn't help but laugh at her.

"So pathetic," He said through the snigger.

Her eyes widened as her mind became clouded; now stabbing him wasn't crossing her mind. Instead, she wanted to use her nails to claw away at him and wrap her hands around his neck, and watch gleefully as…

She pushed her way through the man and stormed down the corridor while his laughter echoed down the halls, haunting her mind. But she knew she did the right thing, and her Master would surely be proud of her.

As she entered the throne room all signs of rage disappeared as she looked to her Master. Seeing him always filled her mind with joy, as she wanted to run up to him and give him a huge cuddle. But she resisted this temptation and kept her composure, instead walked up to his throne, falling to one knee and looking to the floor.

"You summoned me, Lord Nightmare?"

"The kidnapping of the Alexandra child has failed." The demon announced.

Her head suddenly shot up towards her Master.

"I knew those idiots wouldn't get the job done!" She confessed, as she remembered the events of that day, "Please Master, let me do it!" She begged like she did when the plan was first revealed, but was ignored since her Master still hadn't forgiven her.

"SILENCE!" The demon suddenly boomed, his voice reverberating across the entire castle, "The Lizardmen were not solely responsible for this failure. They were ambushed by a lone warrior. It is not Siegfried, but it wields Soul Calibur."

The slave raised an eyebrow at this. She didn't understand much about her enemy, but she did know that Soul Calibur should only have one wielder.

"I command you to eliminate this fool and bring Soul Calibur to me," He ordered. "The Watchers will guide you to its location."

"Yes my Lord, I shall leave at once." She obeyed, raising her to feet, bowing and walking away from the throne.

"Tira," her Master called out once more, causing her to stop. "I remember what happened the last time I gave you an order. If you fail me again, I will not be so forgiving!"

"I will not fail you, Master." She reassured him, before walking out of the throne room.

…

The past two days had been very educational for Link. Not so much in terms of his search, but more so in learning about the city and the family he was living with. Since Rothion spent almost all of his time at Sophitia's side, the care of the children was placed into Link's hands. He would watch over them while they played and they would take him around the city, showing him numerous sights and he would accompany them to the temples where they would pray to Hephaestus, the God of Forge for numerous things, including the recovery of their mother, and the safe return of their auntie.

He always felt inferior whenever he entered the temple, like as though there was something immense watching over them. Even though the temple had fallen into disrepair, it felt very similar to the Temple of Time, and the feeling was still there. The back of his left hand also tingled when he entered, and he would look to see the Triforce mark glowing, as though there was someone, or something, there with a godly essence.

They also spent a lot of time trading stories, as Link would tell them about his homeland and the adventures he had been on. Obviously, the stories were toned down considerably to resemble more of a fairy tale, rather than the actual truth. And in return Link would ask the children questions about the Gods and would then listen intently as the children told him about the Gods of Olympus to the best of their ability.

The more Link learned about the Gods, the more he became convinced that the Goddesses brought him here because the deities had formed some sort of agreement that involved him and Sophitia, judging from how his Triforce shard responded whenever they visited her to see whether she had recovered.

But on the third day as the trio returned from their visit to the Temple of Hephaestus, Rothion call out to them from the doorway. He announced the news that Link had been waiting to hear: Sophitia had finally awakened! Overjoyed at this revelation, the children frantically rushed to their mother while Rothion told Link that he informed her of the events on that night, and that she would like to meet him. Of course, he complied with this, excited that he was finally going to get some answers.

As he entered the bedroom, Link could only watch as the young girl was held in a deep embrace by the bedridden-but-now-conscious mother and the boy jumped up and down on the bed, telling his mother a story that resembled the one Link told him, only with more emphasis on the action, and the daughter would occasionally interrupt, telling the mother about the princess the hero met. The mother seemed not to be listening though, as she looked at each of her children with tears forming in her eyes.

Eventually Rothion loudly cleared his throat, making the children stop their story-telling and look towards him and Link.

"There Mummy!" the boy said, pointing to Link. "That's Mr. Elf!"

Link wasn't sure why the children called him that, but it never appeared to be said with insult in mind, so Link just went along with it.

"Actually, this is Link," Rothion corrected his son, seeming to be more offended than Link was. "The man I told you about." He added, looking to his wife. "And Link, this is my wife, Sophitia."

Link's and Sophitia's eyes finally met, and while Link's were filled joy at finally meeting her, Sophitia's were filled with complete astonishment. But it couldn't be at his ears, as they were hidden. The expression was more like one of recognition, one of having not seen the person for a long time, and not expecting to.

"It is nice to meet you at last," Link greeted, extending his arm out to her. "I hope you are feeling better now."

Sophitia did not respond, instead she continued to look at him with utter shock. Eventually though, a smile came onto her face, accompanied by a short chuckle.

"You're late." She said under her breath.

"I beg your pardon?" Link asked, not understanding what she meant by that.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she stuttered, shaking the expression off her face and grabbing his hand with her own. "Yes, I'm much better now, thank you for asking!"

Before Link could pursue what she meant, he was interrupted by the children as they continued telling their mother about the events that had occurred. Link watched as the family talked and occasionally laughed together, and while it was nice to see the family happily reunited, the back of his mind realised that he needed to continue his search once again. Otherwise no family in his homeland or this world would be quite so happy.

Luckily for him, Rothion soon announced that he was going to the Temple of Hephaestus to offer his prayers, and rather unexpectedly Sophitia asked him to take the children with him, reasoning that they "still have a lot to pray for". Rothion nodded to his wife, he seemed to know that she wanted to have a few words with Link in private. So he hastened his children and before long, Sophitia and Link were the only inhabitants and Sophitia immediately broke the silence.

"I'm sorry for asking, but could you take off your hat?"

A confused look came into Link's eyes as he turned back to face Sophitia.

"Why?" He asked.

"I just… want to check something." She cryptically answered.

"I would not recommend it." He responded, wanting to be more cautious after carelessly leaving them for all to see two days ago.

"Your ears," She paused, "are they pointed?"

Link was shocked by this question at first, but then a small smile came onto his face.

"I was hoping your son did not get the chance to tell you." He said as he pulled his hat off his head.

She looked to his ears, and was surprised at first, but then a smile came onto her face too.

"Well, he _did_ give me the suspicion but I think I already knew." She revealed before continuing, "I also know why you're here… You're after Soul Edge aren't you?"

Once again, Link was surprised. She seemed to know a lot about him without him even saying a word.

"How do you know all this?" Link asked, becoming more confused as she spoke.

Sophitia drew in a deep breath.

"Most of my family and I have always been grateful for what the Gods have done for us. Even though many people don't worship them anymore, we still do. But one day I received an oracle from Hephaestus…"

Link listened intently as she told him the story of her encounter with the God of Forge, and how she was granted a sword and some of his strength in order to combat Soul Edge. Now he understood why his Triforce shard responded around her, she essentially became a representative of the God of Forge, just like how he was a representative of the Triforce of Courage.

She then proceeded to tell him of her first and second journey against Soul Edge and how both of them, ultimately, ended with failure. But it was the story of what happened after her second journey that caught Link's attention the most.

"But then I remember one night I had another vision from the Gods, even though I thought I had lost contact with them. It was a vision of the world being consumed by a darkness that came from Eastern Europe, and there was death everywhere. Until a beam of light suddenly shot out of Athens, completely piercing the evil, and then a figure became visible. A man dressed in a tunic, with a sword and shield, a pointed hat, and pointy ears. Then a message was given to me:

'He is coming,

He will seek you out,

And together, you will put an end to the darkness.'"

She paused while Link took all this information in, and then continued.

"So I waited, and everything went as the vision foretold. Darkness spread across the entire land eventually consuming me and my children, but there was no sign of this man who heralded the light. But I waited, against my instinct. And then my sister left to confront Soul Edge on my behalf, and I felt compelled to go against the God's will…"

She then continued to explain the events of her third journey, how she travelled to a castle known as Ostrheinsburg and encountered a servant of Soul Edge who threatened her children, causing her to race back to Athens to prevent the abduction which thankfully never happened due to her speed. But once she returned to the castle she was threatened once again that a second kidnapping occurred, which was successful this time. Not only that, but the servant boasted that the child's life had become reliant on the dark energy provided by Soul Edge, obviously in an attempt to twist her into another servant. But she refused to believe this, as she hastily returned to Athens once again with all possible speed, cursing herself for leaving her children once again.

Link's heart went out to the mother as he watched her mood darkened, and her eyes came onto the verge of tears. His fists were clenched; it had been a while since he was so disgusted at what living beings could do to each other.

"Oh Link," she sobbed, "I can never thank you enough. Who knows what would have happened if…" she found herself unable to complete the sentence.

"Do not worry; it sounds as though Soul Edge was getting a little too ahead of itself." He assured, placing his hand on her shoulder

"Maybe so," she admitted. "But I don't understand, why the delay?"

"That vision, when did you receive it?" Link asked back.

Sophitia thought hard about this. It seemed like it was years ago after all that had happened since then.

"About six months ago." she answered.

"Thought so," Link said before looking to Sophitia, realising he would have to explain everything to her. "What I am about to tell you might seem a little… strange," he warned, "but it is the honest truth."

It was then Link's turn to explain his story, about how he came from a world known as Hyrule, which existed on a different plain of existence to this world. This concept was not challenging for Link to accept since his second adventure involved him travelling to Termina, another parallel world. But for Sophitia it was harder to believe, she had never thought of such a theory before, and was having difficulty understanding it. But after remembering Link's previous warning and as she listened to his story, she felt inclined to believe him.

He explained how Hyrule was suddenly put under threat when a hole was torn in the wall that separated the two worlds. An occurrence Sophitia believed was caused by the Evil Seed. Then using this hole a wizard who became corrupted by Soul Edge came to Hyrule and began causing chaos, until Link defeated him. But knowing that Hyrule would never be safe again until Soul Edge was destroyed, Link volunteered to travel to this world in order to save his homeland.

However as he was travelling to this world he was stopped by his Sages and placed in a deep slumber, the reason being that they wished to see if this world could overcome this evil without their assistance. Sophitia couldn't help but notice Link's voice went colder as he said this, almost as though he doubted their decision. He was finally awakened six months later, as apparently "events had gone from bad to worse", and the Sages agreed it was time to intervene. The next thing Link knew he was in this world, overlooking the city of Athens.

"… And the rest, you know." Link concluded his story.

Link saw the look of bewilderment on Sophitia's face, and decided to wait a while to allow her to take in the information. He could understand her puzzlement, the first time he stepped into the world of Termina, it took him a while to understand it all too.

"I see…" Sophitia eventually said, not sounding exactly sounding as though she understood.

In the end though, she didn't _need_ to understand. All she needed to know was that he was here now, and that somehow their destinies were bound to cross.

"So what are you going to do now?" She asked, forgetting about the confusion.

"Well I guess I am going to this Ostrheinsburg place to defeat Soul Edge." Link replied flatly.

"I doubt it'll be that simple." Sophitia said, raising an eyebrow at Link.

"I do not expect it to be." He ambiguously responded. "What about yourself?" He asked back.

"I don't know. I imagine I'll be bed-ridden for a while." Sophitia sighed. "Even when I've healed… Soul Edge _has _to be destroyed! That kind of evil can't be allowed to exist! But it knows how to get to me; it knows that if it threatens my family…"

Again, Sophitia found herself unable to finish her sentence, but Link didn't need her to. Even though he hadn't experienced it, he could imagine how torn she was feeling.

"It knows it can use your family against you." Link finished. "I understand that you wish to see Soul Edge destroyed for their sake, but it is obviously aware of this urge and is trying to use it against you." He deduced. "This may not be what you want to hear, but if you leave again it is clearly just going to come back. And I can not promise to be there the next time."

Sophitia's head lowered as she heard this. It was hard to accept, but it was the truth. The more she tried to fight against Soul Edge, the more vulnerable she made her loved ones to its evil. The ones who were driving her through all those journeys suddenly became the ones who stopped her.

"But what should I do? Let the world be consumed? Or sacrifice my family?"

"You stay here with your children, they clearly need you. As for the world, leave it to me."

Sophitia looked back into Link's eyes. She wasn't expecting an answer to that question.

"Soul Edge has no idea I exist. Even if it did, it has nothing to use against me." Link reasoned.

Even though it wasn't said in a sorrowful manner, Sophitia felt a bit sorry for Link. She couldn't imagine life without her family constantly offering support through the dark times of her life. She had to admit though; this did make Link more ideal for this task than she could. And if this young man had the skill to prevent the kidnapping of her daughter and to talk about it as though it were an everyday occurrence then maybe – just maybe – he was capable of performing the impossible.

"Are you _that_ confident you can pull this off?" She asked wanting to make sure his attitude wasn't just a façade.

"Trust me; saving an entire world from evil is nothing new for me."

The number of times Sophitia heard similar statements was too many to count. And each time, she heard it she rolled her eyes. This time however was different. Instead her eyes never left Link's. For some reason, she found comfort in those eyes. Comfort caused by the feeling that he was indeed speaking the truth, and that he was a man who delivered on his promises.

"Alright then Link, I entrust my task of destroying Soul Edge to you."

"Thank you Sophitia. I promise you will not regret this."

Link and Sophitia continued to look into each other's eyes, both of them with big smiles on their faces. Link because he finally had a place to go to, while preventing another from further pain. And Sophitia because her burden was finally taken off her shoulders, and for the first time in a while, she somehow felt reassured that there was in fact light at the end of the tunnel.

…

The slave stood at the entrance to the derelict castle, in her customary hunting outfit her clan were always garbed in when performing a task, accompanied by nothing but her treasured ring-blade, the Eiserne Drossel. Her eyes recoiled when she stepped out into the light offered by the morning sun; it had been so long since she last felt the sun's rays on her skin, after being kept within the darkness of the derelict castle for the past few months by her Master.

As her eyes recovered, she looked upon the horizon that is the rest of the world. She looked upon it with a strange feeling, a sensation that despite her lifestyle she never experienced until her life was forever shattered.

It was fear, a fear of the world beyond the confines of her home. The world that had offered her nothing but suffering while she aimlessly wandered its surface, the world that now threatened everything she worked for, the world represented by the rising sun that she was now witnessing.

Her mind then remembered the last time she was ordered to leave her home, the people she encountered, the lives she took, the guilt of having ultimately failed at that task. Not only did it tear her soul apart but it also had drastic effects on her Master, as he was now bound to the castle. Her failure also caused the arrival of other servants, all giving their lives to him just as she did before them. Like a spoilt child, she was not happy with this, having strong animosity towards one in particular. For there was one man who her Master would send on countless missions while she was being punished for her previous failure, the one who was quickly becoming her replacement as his 'favourite' servant.

As this crossed through her mind, she found her fear disappearing, replaced by determination to get this task over and done with. Her Master had given her a second chance, and she was not going to waste it. She would return her with her victim's head, and then she will be granted an eternity at her Master's side, leaving poor worthless Solnhofen as her slave, and she was going to make sure he didn't enjoy it one bit.

The slave then saw a flock of black ravens coming into view, flying towards her. They gathered and circled above her head, crowing, before slowly gliding into another direction one after the other. The slave looked to where they were going, and could just about see a forest on the opposite side of the castle's bridge.

A smile came onto her face as she breathed in deeply, and took the first step towards her target. Tira's second mission had finally begun!

…

The hero stood at the entrance to the grand city, with all of his possessions on his back. His breath was taken away once again as he looked upon the world before him, he hadn't seen it for the past two days, and a good portion of his life had been full of the same sights everyday.

While he did enjoy his stay with the Alexandra family and was grateful for their hospitality, he _really_ needed to start his hunt for Soul Edge. In fact meeting them and seeing how happy they were made him _more_ determined to stop this new evil, otherwise the families of Hyrule and this world would never be able to live in peace again.

Hence why he left soon after being told by Sophitia what direction Ostrheinsburg was in. The farewells between him and the family were kept brief, since they knew he was in a hurry. But before he left he promised he would come back to see them. Whether he would or not depended on what occurred, but it made the scene less sad for all parties.

And now here he was… On a field, outside a homely area, with a whole new world before him, filled with mystery and adventure, but an ultimate task to complete that would herald the return of peace. A deep sense of déjà vu washed over the hero, as he remembered the previous two occasions where he felt this way.

Seven years since his last adventure. Seven years since he had this feeling engulf him. Too many of which were spent simply waiting for this. So many things had happened since then, but they all seemed to be forgotten as the excitement suddenly came flooding back to him, making him feel as though he was thirteen once again. He could feel his heart thumping in anticipation throughout his entire body. _This_ is what he was born to do.

But for as long as he could stand there reminiscing of days gone by, he had to calm himself and remember that countless lives were at stake. He steadied his breaths, reached into his pouch and pulled out a compass. He watched as the needle orientated itself towards the north and pointed himself to the north-west, seeing a forest far into the distance.

A smile came onto his face as he breathed in deeply, and took the first step towards his destination. Link's third adventure had finally begun!


	4. Lost in the Woods

**Chapter 4 – Lost in the Woods**

If there was one thing that didn't change throughout Link's life, it was that he _loved_ travelling through forests. He found that they always had features that conflicted with each other, such as their absolute vastness, yet at the same time completely packed with life. They always blocked out the sun, making the surface covered in shadow, and hiding many secrets within the dark, while appearing welcoming with the rays of the sun shining through the trees, offering light through the darkness. Forests symbolised how Link saw his adventures: dark at times and extremely dangerous, but fun and educational, all at the same time.

But as the hours became days, Link found himself becoming less and less excited by this forest, and more agitated. He knew this world was massive compared to Hyrule and Termina but this was just getting ridiculous, as everywhere looked exactly the same. And this time there were no monkeys, or music echoing through the trees that would guide him to his destination. It eventually got to the point where every hour or so he would stop to check his compass, to make sure he wasn't just travelling around in circles, and each time he grunted slightly as he discovered he was indeed travelling in the right direction.

But as more time passed travelling through this forest, a horrifying thought passed through him…

_What if I've already passed the castle?_

At first this fear would be shaken off, but it seemed to become more and more apparent. He withheld the idea of exploring other directions for as long as he could. In the end however, his worry of having missed his destination got the better of him, as he began to travel in different directions in the hope of getting out of the forest and finding the castle that was supposedly "hard to miss".

As the sun began to set into the horizon, Link realised too late that doing that was a bad idea. For not only did he not find a way out of the forest, but now he couldn't remember where it was he decided to wander away from. He cursed himself as he came to an embarrassing conclusion: he was lost.

Fortunately though, thanks to his past few days of staying with the Alexandra family, Link wasn't at all tired. Even as the darkness shone through the leaves of the towering trees, Link felt as though he was ready to continue marching.

But as the day gave way to the night, Link felt a new sensation arise. A new presence had entered Link perception, and it seemed fixated on the hero, going with him wherever he went. He was being followed.

Link made sure his head remained still, but his eyes narrowed as they shot from right to left, scanning the environment for anything out of the ordinary while walking forwards. For both of his adventures, Link was accompanied by a guardian fairy, who would not only support Link and drive him forward in times of need, but also point out things that the hero had not noticed. It was a trait that saved his life more times than he could possibly count. Thus during his seven-year hiatus, Link made it a priority to learn how to not just use one's eyes, but also "sense" the environment just like the fairies and a few other individuals could.

While it wasn't anywhere near the level of his former companions, it was still honed enough for it to be useful, such as when he was in Athens and now, where the feeling grew stronger and stronger as he continued through the forest.

Eventually, he had to stop. Whatever it was that was following him obviously didn't want Link to continue, as he felt its eagerness to follow him growing the more he went on. He had two ways of dealing with this: one he turned around, walked away, and searched for an alternate path, or two he confronted this presence. He checked his compass to ensure he was travelling in the right direction. After discovering he was, he decided for the latter option, reasoning that this presence could be a servant of Soul Edge. It would also give him a chance to vent out the frustration of travelling through the endless forest.

In order to root out the watcher in this environment, Link would need to go into hiding himself, and beat that person at their own game. But as Link looked over his shoulder, he realised there was a problem with that. The blade of the Master Sword always gave off a white glow in the darkness, for it was known as the 'Blade of Evil's Bane', a ray of light in the deepest darkness both literally and metaphorically. Granted it was in its scabbard, but he would need to draw it at some point, and doing so would risk him being discovered.

He unclipped his sword and shield and let them fall to the ground. And while his eyes continued to scan the forest, his hand reached into his pouch and grabbed a nut.

_Here goes…_

He thought as he threw the nut to the ground and immediately shielded his eyes from the subsequent blast of light as it smashed against the ground.

Link could feel the eyes that watched him being drawn away, and he ran into the bushes and climbed up the trees with all possible speed. He would have searched for a better vantage point, but by the time he reached this location Link could sense the presences' focus return. Thus, he waited. His eyes constantly in motion as he watched, but his body remained pointed towards where he laid the Master Sword, using it as a reference point and a possible trap.

A few minutes passed but there was nothing.

Link returned to ground level, starting to doubt whether there was ever anything suspicious in the first place, but still kept low to the ground and apprehensive nonetheless. He slowly moved though the bushes towards his trusty sword, making sure he made a minimum amount of noise.

Suddenly, he heard a twig crack to his left. With his suspicions reaffirmed Link reached into his pouch and pulled out his Kokiri Sword. While it served as a great sword when he was a child, as he grew up it became less and less useful in combat, with it becoming too small for an adult to use effectively. But he refused to get rid of it through sentimental value. He reasoned in his mind that it still served a purpose, such as a knife to cut things that would otherwise be unnecessary with his sword, and also in times like these where stealth was required.

He shuffled carefully across the floor towards where he heard the noise. His heart was beating faster and faster with each passing moment, anxious at the thought that one wrong move would spell doom for him, ending his quest before he had even begun. But even though his lungs demanded more air, Link knew he had to control his breath, for not only did it hide his presence, but it also made his senses more attuned.

Although it was no longer than a minute, it felt like an eternity for Link before he looked to the ground and stumbled upon a broken twig. While this wouldn't suggest much to most, Link knew this was the one broken by his watcher as his hand carefully stroked the grassy floor and felt several indentations in the ground. The depth suggested they were caused recently, and the shape matched those of a human eliminating the thought that it was an animal or a monster that was following him. Looking at the faint prints and running his hand across them again revealed something else to Link: the heels were incredibly indented. This meant the watcher either had horribly disfigured feet, or they were wearing high-heeled shoes.

After shaking off the momentary confusion as to why a person who uses stealth to attack would wear high-heels, Link deducted that this watcher was probably a woman. He looked around hoping for anything that could help him, but quietly sighed as he found nothing. It was now Link realised he couldn't simply rely on his sight to find this woman.

He closed his eyes and focused on using his other senses to draw a picture of his surroundings in his mind. But his heart was racing by this point. He could feel it in his chest; each beat rang through his ears as though it was trying to leap out of the confines of his body. Link breathed in deeply, trying to remain as quiet as he could, and then breathed out again until his lungs were completely empty, before inhaling again. This probably wasn't helping in keeping his presence unknown, but Link knew to panic in situations such as these only made things worse. He firmly believed that keeping a clear mind is what ensures victory.

After a few rounds of breathing, Link found his heart rate has dropped significantly. Satisfied, he closed his eyes once again and began to focus. He was once told that a Hylian's ears could hear the voices of the Gods, and while Link had never heard any messages from deities throughout his life, he hoped they would give him an advantage in this situation.

It took longer than he wanted it to, but using the wind and the ambience of the forest, Link's mind was forming a mental picture. He could hear the wind blowing through the leaves of the trees above him, and the birds chirping atop of the branches or as they flew over his head, and the distant flowing of water through a calm stream. He was thankful that the forest was mostly silent, since his mind wouldn't have been able to process all the sound from his ears.

But then another sound came to his ears. It was behind him, and was very faint. It was the sound of gentle feet rustling through the grass. This was followed immediately by the sound of something moving rapidly towards him, as though the air itself was warning him of an incoming attack.

Link's eyes shot open, and without delay, he twisted his body around with just enough time to notice a blade coming towards him. His back arched backwards, to the point where his hands were planted on the ground behind him. Link heard several bones crack as he performed this manoeuvre, giving the odd sensation of pain and relief at the same time.

_Been a while since I've had to do that!_

The blade then came into his view, fortunately though it missed him completely. Link then kicked his legs into the air, which went up and over his body, landing on the opposite side. Link corrected his torso and took a few quick steps backwards, allowing him to see his attacker.

She was a female that much was clear, dressed in a strange outfit that had a slight green tint to it that covered her chest. Along with white boots that came up to her knees, with the rest of her legs being dressed in black tights. She also wore purple gloves, which held onto the sword she wielded with her left hand. Presumably to disguise herself she also wore a cloak that covered the majority of her face, but Link could see a glint in the shadow of the hood, signifying that although he couldn't see her, she could see him clearly.

"Don't resist and I promise I'll make it quick!" The assailant threatened.

Link remained silent. There was no glib remark his time. For the first time in years, he didn't feel in control of his emotions during a battle. And he knew exactly why…

In the many years he had been fighting, he had mostly been facing monsters, creatures that were artificially created, beings that had no emotion other than the need to obey their leader. Only a very small number of them had his opponent being a living, breathing creature.

Not only that, but Link was also ill-equipped for a full-on battle, having only his Kokiri Sword for fighting with. His eyes quickly glanced over to where the Master Sword laid, but immediately saw it was too far away to get to. He didn't think the situation would boil down to this, and he cursed himself for not preparing for it.

Regardless, he tightened his grip of his old blade, and got ready for a difficult battle.

"Okay then!" The assailant simply said after witnessing Link's body language, swinging her sword into her fighting position.

The two warriors made no move to each other for a while. Link knew he couldn't make the first move, not with his disadvantage. She probably could've killed him by the time he had closed the gap between them. Thus he insisted on waiting for her to attack, attempting to form a strategy as he did so.

Eventually though, he ran out of time, as she swiftly stepped close enough to attack. Her sword came quickly rushing towards Link in an attempt to stab his chest, but he was able to twist his body in order to dodge it. In the blink of an eye, Link turned his head towards the woman's sword in order to get a closer look at it before she attacked again. He couldn't help but notice that while the blade was indeed longer than his own its sides were a bit blunt, with the tip of the blade being the sharpest point.

_So that's why she attacked with a stab…_

Link then realised, thinking before that it was strange that she began a battle with such a move.

With his analysis done, Link deflected the sword away with his own, and prepared for another attack. His confidence was slowly returning, for even though she had the advantage of distance, at least Link had more options when it came to attacking.

But before he could think further, the woman came onto the attack once again, this time the attacks weren't stopping. Link had to focus as hard as he could to avoid injury, for not only were the strikes fast with excellent precision, he was also finding it difficult to battle without a shield. In fact there were numerous times when his right arm would have been impaled if he hadn't realised at the last possible second that he wasn't wearing his shield.

Though after countless strikes had been deflected, there was a slight pause between the woman's attacks. Whether it was due to slight fatigue or losing focus, Link didn't care as it gave him an opportunity to strike back. Whilst she made a lunge for his chest, Link had already ducked beneath the strike and rolled forward, bringing her into range. His sword then slashed across her shin, intending only to injure, not to kill. She leapt back away from him to get out of his reach but he felt his sword make contact with her leg, convincing Link that he had impaired the attacker, and giving him a quick feeling of guilt for harming another.

But the guilt quickly disappeared as he watched her land... and saw no injury whatsoever on her leg, only a slight cut on her boot. He looked to the Kokiri Sword and remembered why this was the case… over the past seven years, the blade of the Kokiri Sword had become blunt, making it virtually useless in combat. Another reason he had a replacement crafted.

"You jerk!" The assailant spat at Link after seeing the damage he had done, "Apologise now!"

"For what?" Link shouted back. His anger had clouded his mind, as he realised he had no advantage at all, and listened to this attacker as she demanded an apology, when _she was the one who started it_.

But he calmed himself, as he realised the fighting could stop there and then if he responded in the right way.

"I am sorry," Link said with his mind full of resentment.

The woman became silent upon hearing this, her mouth opened but no words came out of it, as though she herself was surprised that Link had just done what she said. During this moment, Link quickly looked over to his right, seeing the Master Sword sticking out of the ground a fair distance away. Too big a gap for him to run across, but then an idea came into his head if the worst came to the worst.

"That flash you caused," the woman said, breaking the silence "how did you do that?"

"I used a Deku Nut." Link answered, deciding to co-operate if it meant avoiding another fight. He took one out of his pouch and showed it to her. "Although its shell is quite hard, the core is very fragile. A sudden impact will cause the core to explode."

Although the cloak still masked the majority of her face Link could tell she was surprised to see the item in his hand, but why was a mystery to him. He placed the nut back into his pouch but kept his hand behind his back, holding onto the handle of another item.

"Why? Have you not seen one before?" Link asked, attempting to make conversation.

"I dunno," the woman replied, but Link wasn't really paying attention to as he noticed her arm reach into something behind her. He tightened the grip of his right hand, ready for whatever happened. "Are they something like this?" She asked as her arm was suddenly raised to the sky, and then threw something to the ground.

Link tried to shield his eyes as the object smashed into the grassy floor, but he was too slow as it exploded into a blinding flash of light, leaving him temporarily blinded. The flash was remarkably similar to a Deku Nut, but there was something about it that wasn't quite the same, as though it was artificially created.

Once again Link cursed himself for his stupidity, as he covered his eyes with his right arm, and flailed his sword around him with his left. He soon realised how fruitless this was, and resorted to sensing the environment once again while his eyes recovered.

But as his senses were reaching out he suddenly felt something pulling his head back, causing him to lean backwards. His eyes shot open to see the vague, black outline of the woman looking at him as he as pulled back. She had sneaked up behind him, and grabbed the point of his hat to hold him in place, while her sword came into contact with his neck.

"Too bad!" she gloated to him as she prepared to push her sword.

There was only one way out of this. Normally he would've considered the consequences, but this time he did it without a moment's hesitation, as Link pulled his head away from the woman, causing his hat to slip off.

Knowing he had no time and no other options, Link rolled forward to create as much distance between him and his assailant as possible. Once he was back on his feet, his hand reached around to his back and grabbed his Clawshot, which he then pointed into the direction of the Master Sword. His vision hadn't quite recovered, but it was good enough for him to make out his weapon. The device then fired off a claw that was still attached to the device by a chain. The claw then hit its target: the Master Sword's hilt, which caused the claw to retract back to its origin with the sword still in its grasp, having enough force behind it to pull it out of the ground. Link returned the Kokiri Sword and retrieved the Master Sword from the Clawshot, which was placed back into his pouch. He then quickly turned to face his opponent once again, sword in hand, ready for battle.

However, she simply stood there, staring at him, having not moved since Link pulled away. He was expecting that response, in fact he relied on it to buy him some more time. But what he wasn't expecting was for her to remained standing still, now that he was armed. He quickly decided to use this continued response to his advantage, as he charged towards her and attacked with a move that would have hopefully disarmed her.

But she regained her senses in time to dodge the attack completely, as she jumped away and landed quite a distance away from him. However instead of fighting back, as Link expected, the woman instead placed her sword back into its scabbard.

"What is the matter?" Link asked, "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"I don't know how it's possible, but I realise we're not enemies." She answered, throwing his hat to his feet.

"How so?" Link questioned, not convinced whether she was a servant of Soul Edge, and performing a trick on him.

"Because…" She replied while placing her hands on either sides of her hood and pulling it back, allowing Link to see her full face.

She had light blonde hair which was quite similar to Link's in that it had two segments that parted at the forehead, and had blue eyes that seemed to glow in the twilight hours of the forest. Even though she wore a purple hat that was a little out of place, Link had to admit that she was rather attractive.

But then, he noticed one other similarity between the two of them.

"We're the same!" She finished as he looked to her ears and his mouth dropped as he realised that they, too, were pointed!

"What?" Link was puzzled, everyone he had encountered so far were at least slightly astonished when they discovered he had different ears. But as it turned out; they already existed amongst the people of this world. "But how?"

"I'm Scheherazade, and I'm from Sylvari Village. Who are you? And where are you from?"

"My name is Link, and I do not know where I was born but my childhood home was Kokiri Forest." Link answered as he placed his hat back on his head.

"Kokiri Forest?" Scheherazade pondered. "Never heard of it,"

"It is located deep within the Lost Woods, not many people have." Link reassured her.

"The Lost Woods?" Scheherazade said, with a tone of confusion still within her voice.

"Yes, the gigantic woodland area south of Hyrule Field? It is-"

"Hyrule?" Scheherazade interrupted. "Hyrule exists? And you're from there?" She shouted, almost as though she didn't believe anything Link was saying.

"Y-Yes, that is where all Hylians are from."

"I'm sorry, it's just that I've heard so many stories from the Elders about Hyrule. The 'Golden Land of the Goddesses', our true home…"

"Your 'true home'?"

"Yeah, but I think you'd better speak to the Elders. I'm sure they'll wanna meet you!" Scheherazade offered Link.

Link contemplated not going, having already wasted a lot of valuable time on exploring the world. But then he remembered one thing: he was lost, with absolutely no idea of where to go. Upon realising this, Scheherazade's offer looked more beneficial, for although he might waste a day or two with her clan, he could very well spend an entire week or more wandering aimlessly around this maze.

Besides, opportunities like this were part of what made Link miss his adventuring days: the chance to meet new people, and learn about new cultures.

More importantly though the Elders may be able to give him direction to his destination, and it was this that made Link finalise his decision.

"Alright then," Link replied "is your village far?"

"Nope! It's just an hour or two this way." Scheherazade answered as she started to walk to his left, with him following her and eventually walking side by side with her through the forest.

"So you're from Hyrule, huh?" She repeated, as though it was to confirm it in her mind before a smile came onto her face, "You must have _so_ many stories!" She said in excitement.

"That depends on what you want to know." Link said, smiling back to his fellow Hylian.

**Author's Note: **What's that? It's been seven months since I last updated? Yeah, well, erm, *ahem*... Let's just say LOADS of things have gotten in the way of writing, things that hopefully haven't affected the quality...


	5. Story Teller's Bravery

**Chapter 5 – Story Teller's Bravery**

The Hylians had been walking for hours, but with the conversation they had been having, and the stories they had been trading between each other, the time simply flew by. Before Link knew it, darkness had already enveloped the forest, as night-time crept its way across the land.

And the way that the two acted seemed natural, as though they had known each other all their lives, but had not seen one another in a long time. No-one would have known that, only a few hours ago, the two were in fact locked in a duel were either of them could have lost their lives.

But still, all animosity vanished and replaced by a simple interest in each other. Scheherazade listened intently as Link told her about Hyrule, the different races, and many of the experiences Link had been through during his time there. Whilst Link listened as Scheherazade told him stories about her village, the Elders, and life as a whole in the forest. The more stories that were traded between the two, the more they formed a puzzle in their heads, and put the pieces together. As Link listened to Scheherazade about her Elders, the words she spoke suggested she regarded them with utmost respect, but her tone made him think otherwise, that she had had many confrontations with them, and disagreed with many of their views. Whereas Scheherazade knew that Link had been through more than he was telling her, as each of his stories would end abruptly, or he would jump to the conclusion suddenly, as though he was cutting out a large portion of them.

"There it is." Scheherazade announced as she finished another story, pointing ahead of the pair.

Link snapped his mind back down from the clouds and looked in the finger's direction. It took him a while of deep staring and hard squinting, but he could just about make out a faint light in the distance, hidden through the greenery. Upon seeing one, others then became noticed.

As the pair got closer and closer to the village, Link began to make out more and more details. The trees would, at first glance, appear quite normal until he would notice the holes in the trunks with light coming out of them with green and brown fabric blocking most of it from outsiders. He would then notice the paintings on the trees that, even though were different on each trunk, still seemed to blend it perfectly with the environment.

His eyes then turned to the branch-filled sky, where he would just about be able to see torches with fires carefully guarded by metal, so that no 'accidents' would occur. Looking slightly below these torches, Link then saw wooden bridges that spread over the entire community, connecting all the trees as though they were woven together.

Everything about this village had the words 'secrecy' written all over it. The majority of the towns Link had visited were obviously man-made, as they harshly cut through the land and replaced it with bricks and mortar. Each place made no effort to blend in with the environment, instead preferring to harden itself if it were ever attacked. Although Link didn't mind that, it showed the progress that civilisation had made since the days when everyone was nothing more than animals. But with this place, it was as though nature and civilisation worked together to create this community, a village built around the surroundings, not interfering with it in any way. And in return nature would hide the village within its veil. A balance which worked very well, as Link agreed that if it weren't for it being night-time or being guided, he would have just walked past this part without batting an eyelid.

As he thought this, Link was reminded of his home back in Hyrule, Kokiri Forest. A place that preferred to remain hidden from other societies, with the intention of nullifying the threat of invasions, which was presumably why this village was just the same.

Unlike Kokiri Forest though, it was completely quiet. No children were running around playing. No boys were picking up rocks and throwing them around while the girls watched innocently, giggling to each other. No one was playfully climbing up the vast amount of trees while their guardian fairies worried about their well-being. All was instead silent, reminding him of when he stepped into Zora's Domain as an adult, to find the entire of the water city enveloped in unbreakable ice.

Despite this, Link could feel countless eyes being drawn to him from many directions, making him feel slightly uneasy. He looked to the bridges extending above them and caught a glimpse of someone looking at him from inside a tree before they snapped their head back out of view. It occurred too quickly for the hero to make out any details, but he could see the look of fear in the person's eyes.

His eyes then moved along the bridge and saw another figure. This one, although well-hidden, was not afraid that she was discovered, and simply glared at Link with an aggressive frown on her face. Link then noticed the large bow strapped to her back, which didn't help the anxiety Link was feeling.

"Are you sure I will be welcome here?" Link nervously asked Scheherazade, as he suddenly realised that there was probably a reason why this village was hidden.

But before Scheherazade could answer back, a voice suddenly boomed out.

"Halt!" It called as a figure dropped silently in the shadows of the forest before walking slowly into the moonlight, revealing a male garbed in similar clothing to Scheherazade only with a darker shade of colours, presumably to allow to blend into the night easily.

"Hey Zaman! Been a while, huh?" Scheherazade cheerfully greeted, only to be met with a stern expression from the other.

"Scheherazade…" he finally responded. "What part of 'going outside the village is strictly forbidden' don't you understand?"

"What can I say?" Scheherazade shrugged. "Being stuck here is _boring_!"

"I always thought you were childish Scheherazade." He angrily reacted to her comment, before shifting his gaze to Link. "But I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to bring someone to our _hidden_ village!"

There was a brief moment of silence, until suddenly the man leapt towards Link and prodded his now-drawn sword at Link's chest, right over his racing heart, ready to push.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you." The man coldly said to Link.

He would have tried to explain the situation. That he meant no harm, and that he would leave as soon as he could. But this man seemed so desperate for a fight; Link could tell from his expression that any attempt to reason with him could just end with Link being killed anyway. He needed to get rid of the danger first, and then explain about the day's events in the hope that there would be no blood-shed.

In the blink of an eye, Link drew the Master Sword, locked his blade into the man's and pushed it away from his chest.

"Because you can't." Link calmly replied, looking deeply into the man's eyes, watching as the expressions ranged from complete confidence, to utter shock, to anger as their blades remained locked. Until Link cast an eye to the woman on the bridge above them, and saw she now had her bow drawn and arrow pointing directly at the two.

Realising the stupidity of starting a fight, Link put strength into his upper body, allowing him to push his attacker out of the lock and a few steps back.

"Zaman, stop it! This guy's one of us!" Scheherazade interrupted as the man prepared for another attack.

"Don't be ridiculous!" He spat back.

Knowing this was the only chance he was going to have before the man was going to attack again or the archer's would fire at him, Link grabbed the rim of his hat and pulled back, and watched as the archer lowered his bow, looking on with confusion. Link huffed slightly as the threats against his life disappeared.

"How?" The man simply asked.

"I don't know. But he says he's from _Hyrule_!" Scheherazade replied, with emphasis added on the last word so that everyone around them heard it.

Gradually, Link saw more and more heads peering out of the many windows embedded within the trees, all eyes drawn towards him as they quietly murmured to each other.

"I was gonna see the Elders about this, see if the prophecy is actually true!" Scheherazade excited said.

_Prophecy?_

Link thought. He hadn't heard anything about a prophecy, and couldn't imagine how it would involve him. He thought perhaps it was related to Soul Edge, which made sense since that was why he was here. Perhaps they received a similar vision to what Sophitia had six months previous, which would explain why they were all so surprised at his sudden appearance.

"Yes, I think you better had." The man agreed, with his eyes remaining fixated on Link, as though he were some sort of higher being.

But Link's eyes were too busy taking in his surroundings for him to notice this, too focused on watching as the people now emerged from the holes onto the bridges suspended high above them, but still being cautious as their fearful eyes stared back at the hero.

It took him a moment to realise that Scheherazade was proceeding on, so he quickly walked to catch up to her before resuming his normal pace, following her as she walked into one of the trees. He too entered, and as he suspected, the interior greatly contrasted with the exterior. The outside held no 'soul' of its own, being simply trees with faint patterns that marked the village's borders and bridges that were effectively camouflaged. Which was understandable really, since anything other than that would probably attract attention. This meant that the inside of the structures was where all the culture of the villagers was held, where the walls were covered in magnificent paintings, and the floors were adorned with a soft yet aesthetically pleasing rug, and each flat surface had an ornament of some sort, whether they were weapons mounted on the walls, or figurines on the shelves that stuck out of the trunk.

But as much as Link wanted to stay and learn about each and every one of the decorations, he had to continue following Scheherazade as she ascended up a massive, wooden spiral staircase that took up the majority of the room. He walked up them and then back outside, along one of the bridges that, only a minute ago, he was looking up to from below.

"So erm, how long have you people been here for?" Link asked, wanting to break the odd, sudden silence between the two.

"A long time," Scheherazade answered, but not turning to face Link. "Long before any of us were born. The Elders are the only ones who can remember our original home."

"You mean Hyrule?" Link asked back.

"Yeah. I'm not sure what happened, but we ended up stuck out here with no way to return." Scheherazade informed.

"Sorry but… what is this 'prophecy' I heard you mention earlier?"

"Basically there's a story that one day, a Hylian would find us and take us back." She continued, but without the tone of excitement in her voice that was present when she first learned of Link's origins. Its replacement was one that Link couldn't read without seeing her face.

Before Link had a chance to reflect upon this though, they had arrived at their destination. While Scheherazade spoke to the guards in front of the large entrance that had beaded curtains separating them from the interior, Link noticed that the tree itself was much larger than its surrounding ones, also realising its position as it was placed in the centre of the village. Link instantly deduced that this was where the Elder's resided.

He then watched as one of the guards walked away from Scheherazade, towards three very old men who were all sat on cushions that saved them from the hardness of the floor. Although he couldn't hear anything said by the guard due to his whispering near the old man's ear, he could faintly hear one of the old men speak.

"Scheherazade? What does she want _now_?" He asked in a croaky voice that showed he was a lot older than Link first thought.

The guard closed in on the old man's ear again to whisper something else.

"Is this true?" The old man gasped, to which the guard nodded and inaudibly spoke once again before looking in Link's direction, making the old man do the same.

Even though they only caught each other's eyes for a brief moment, Link could tell it seemed like an eternity for that man. It was now that Link realised the situation he had gotten himself into. They believe he was the one who would find this village, and take these people back with him to Hyrule. He figured that out quite easily. But the problem was a simple one: he wasn't. Not only was it pure coincidence that he was brought here, but it was also physically impossible for him to do so.

The guard then approached the two stood outside.

"The Elders want to speak to you." The guard stated looking to Link, until snapping to Scheherazade when he saw her move towards the interior. "Not you Scheherazade, him!" He barked to her, making Link look to her with a slightly nervous look.

"Go ahead, Deliverer," she said to him with a smile on her face, which Link couldn't tell was genuine or not. "I'll wait for ya!"

Link gave a half-smile to her in response, but couldn't remove that edginess from his eyes. He turned to face the Elders, and walked into their abode.

_Good luck explaining this one!_

His mind said to itself as he passed under the beaded curtain, until becoming too distracted by the room he was in to give the dilemma any more thought.

This was the heart of the village, the very centre of their culture, as such Link expected it to be full of ornaments and decorations that represented how far this clan had come since they first arrived. Instead, the chamber seemed to be empty, nothing save for the three Elders who sat in the middle. The only distinguishing feature being that the walls were engulfed in paintings, as though any free space was ordered to be used up. Pictures that seemed to be of random scenery, until Link noticed one that looked very familiar, as its background clearly displayed a large mountain that had a huge halo of dust circling around its crater, one that was identical to Death Mountain.

Link then looked to each of the pictures in a new light, and noticed that each of them were of a particular landmark in Hyrule: such as Lake Hylia, and the opening to the Lost Woods, and the chasm of Gerudo Valley, and Hyrule Field. The whole room, to Link, seemed to be some sort of sanctuary to Hyrule itself.

"I'm sure these locations look very familiar to you." One of the Elders finally spoke, making Link look to them, breaking him out of his childish trance.

"They are all that is left of our home." Another said in a very sorrowful manner.

Link looked to the two men, who sat side-by-side on cushions. They were both dressed in robes, obviously to signify their importance amongst the rest of the villagers. One wore dark green clothing, while the other wore a brighter shade of green accompanied by blue. There was also a third old man, who again wore identical robes as the other two, with his being coloured dark red.

"How did you get here?" Link asked to the men, letting his curiosity get the better of him.

"Hmph! So _you're _the Deliverer?" The dark red Elder scoffed. "Surely if the King sent you here, then you should know!"

"Patience, my Brother." The dark green Elder calmed the third. "The Royal Family may have sent out troops without telling them the whole story."

The third Elder huffed in response, remaining unconvinced.

"What's your name, young swordsman?" The Elder asked, turning his attention back to the hero.

"Link." He simply responded.

"Well Link, this is our story…" The Elder said as Link opened his ears, listening intently. "Although we are now residents of this world, our birthplace was indeed Hyrule, the Golden Land of the Goddesses. We three were soldiers who served under King Daphnes Nohansenn the Second."

"Not just simple soldiers, we were knights. Swordsmen commemorated for our bravery, skill and unwavering loyalty towards the Hylian Throne." The dark red Elder hastily added.

"Quite so. We were the final line of defence for the Royal Family during the many wars that were fought. As such, we were very closely connected to the Royal Family, the only people who know of their secrets that aren't related by blood."

"This also meant that we were given special assignments from the King, which normally involved simply spying on the other regions of Hyrule, until one day he gave us a very peculiar order…"

"He commanded us to go forth beyond the realm of Hyrule to explore other worlds."

"He would use the Royal Family's most sacred treasure to open doorways to parallel worlds, let a group of us explore this new realm, and then return with any resources that may be helpful. Our journey took us to many lands, and we were successful each time. In fact in one of the worlds, we were granted extended life spans"

"But when we found ourselves in this world, something was different. The doorway suddenly shut once we arrived, and we found no way of returning."

"Any idea of why that happened?" Link asked, raising an eyebrow.

"None. The only way the seal would shut was if the King ordered it."

"Or if there was another force in play on that day."

"How long have you been here?" Link questioned, forming a theory on what happened, but wanted to have the facts confirmed first.

"Three hundred and forty one years, ten months and twenty-three days." The Elder responded with startling speed and accuracy, making Link realise how much they miss their home.

But the answer eliminated his theory of the Evil Seed causing this, for their entrapment happened way before the event occurred.

_The Royal Family's most sacred treasure… I wonder…_

"The item that the King used to open the doorways…" Link began as he searched his pouch, "was it this thing?" He asked as he pulled out a shiny blue Ocarina with a Triforce marking on the mouth-piece.

"The Ocarina of Time! Yes, that is it!" The dark green Elder gasped.

"How… how are you in possession of the Royal Family's most sacred treasure?" The dark red Elder questioned.

"It's been entrusted to me quite a few times by the Princess." Link answered. "It's… seen me through a lot of troubles." He added looking to the magical instrument, thinking of all the times it was used.

"I see… So you are more than just a scout, you are a close friend to the Princess."

"You could say that. It was entrusted to me so that I could travel to and from this world." Link said, realising it was time he came clean about why he was here.

"You alone?" The dark green Elder said, realising what this meant "So that means,"

"No," Link responded before the old man could finish his sentence. "I am sorry. I was not sent here to find you."

Upon this revelation, Link could see the disappointment in the three old men's eyes, but it was better that they found out the truth.

"It was too good to be true…" the bright green Elder murmured grimly.

"I am here to destroy a great evil that exists in this world, but threatens every other world in existence, including Hyrule." Link explained.

"You speak of Soul Edge." The dark green Elder finally answered, breaking the quiet that previously pervaded the atmosphere, "Yes, we have felt this evil that you speak of. It has been silent for many decades, with slight fluctuations over the past few years. Now, however, it has grown exponentially. Hence why he had such high hopes that you would lead us back."

"I am afraid that even doing so would not ensure safety." Link gravely informed them. "To cut a long story short, I was given the task of eliminating this threat by the Princess. I learned that the evil is rooted in a castle called Ostrheinsburg… but I got lost."

"Ostrheinsburg… I have heard of such a place. It was once a grand fortress to a mighty king, but now it is a place of pure malice. A nest for the swarm of darkness that now sweeps over this world." The bright green Elder informed.

"Yes. That sounds like the place."

"You really think you're capable? This isn't just some group of bandits who use that place as a base. This thing is pure evil. Lives are claimed just by entering its vicinity, and it feeds on those souls, growing stronger as it does so. It is a,"

"That sword! Is that… the legendary blade… the Master Sword?" The dark green Elder suddenly interrupted his dark red brethren, noticing the unmistakable blue hilt that peered over Link's shoulder.

"Yes, yes it is." Link said, glancing over his shoulder to the blade.

"That… that means you're the…"

"Yes, I am."

"Impossible!" The dark red Elder murmured, followed by nothing but silence passing between the four. Eventually, the three Elders turned away from Link and to each other, nodding when they made eye contact.

"Very well Link. Under normal circumstances, we would insist that you stayed with us so that our society remained secret. But given the situation, we have decided to let you continue."

"Your destination lies to the west. Do not lose faith, and you will find it eventually." The bright green Elder told the hero.

"Thank you. I hope you do not mind, but I shall leave after a short break." Link said, as he felt signs of fatigue throughout his body.

"Yes, of course. Scheherazade shall guide you to a place of rest. Good luck with your quest."

With that, Link bowed his head in respect, before turning around and heading back into the night-lit village.

"Why have the Goddesses forsaken us?" One of the Elders said under their voice, so quietly that Link couldn't make out whom it was said by.

It was at that moment Link realised the sorrow the three old men were going through. They had been torn away from their homes, and forced to live in a completely alien world with no method of returning. They obviously lived in fear of the outside world. Whether the fear was originated by something that had happened to them, or whether it was simply a fear of the unknown, Link couldn't tell. But he felt obliged to help them, knowing what it's like to feel isolated, with no solace available.

"Once I am done…" Link began, as he ceased walking, and shot his head over his shoulder. "I shall return, and I will find a way to return to Hyrule, with all of you joining me."

The Elders did not respond to Link's statement, they weren't sure how to. Whether he was being serious, joking or boastful was a mystery to them, but to the hero there was no question. He knew, however, that there was no way of convincing them of otherwise, thus he left the attendance of the Elders and rejoined Scheherazade who stood just outside, leaning on the railing of the bridge.

"So how did it go?" She asked, turning to him after noticing his presence.

"Not bad, considering I crushed their hopes." Link simply replied with a slight smile on his face as they began to walk away.

"So you're not the one who will guide us back to Hyrule?" Scheherazade eventually questioned, whilst guiding Link to the abode provided by the Elders.

"Afraid not." Link replied, "Although you do not seem that bothered by this." He followed up, deciding to outright ask her about the little suggestions she had made since they arrived.

"I…" Scheherazade began before hesitating. "I admit, there's a part of me that…" she paused again.

Link couldn't help but notice this, as she had always been so sure of herself and upfront about her feelings. He listened intently as he looked to his fellow Hylian, encouraging her to carry on.

"I just don't understand what the Elders are thinking." She continued. "Just because we're Hylians, it doesn't mean Hyrule is our home. Home is the place where you go to at the end of the day and feel at peace, the place that you fight for when it's endangered, the place that needs you as much as you need it…"

Link was surprised by this sudden outburst, although he held her in the highest regard, he never considered her to be so philosophical.

"Hyrule isn't our home. Hyrule was nothing more than a fairy tale for a lot of us, you know? Comfort when you feel lonely. But then you showed up, and suddenly I started thinking, thinking about leaving this world… forever, and returning to Hyrule. But that didn't make me happy, it saddened me. Because I now realise that this…" She raised her arms and eyes to the sky and spun her body around, taking in the surrounding in all its glory.

"This is my home." She admitted. "This is the place that provides the stories."

Link found himself looking to the tops of the towering trees, understanding what she meant.

"The Elders fear it, saying 'we don't belong here' and 'this world wouldn't accept us', but if only they went out there and saw it… It's all so…" She stutters, before lowering her arms. "Sorry Link, this probably doesn't make a hint of sense." She said through a heavy sigh.

"Trust me, it does." Link confessed, reflecting on his own experiences, particularly when he was just about to leave Termina for good, and the years that followed. "Although it sounds as though you are in a minority." He added, wanting to take his mind off its trajectory.

"I know… I… Whilst I was out there, I…"

"You met someone…" Link finished her sentence. "Someone special." He finished as he noticed her looking to him with a surprised expression.

"He was such a great man, so brave and kind." She added with utter dreaminess in her words, before she came plummeting back down to earth. "But it was so long ago… I know he's dead now."

"Oh, I am so sorry." Link apologised.

"It's alright. Although I wish I could find out what happened to him. How he lived out his life, the battles he fought… how he died. I feel as though… I denied him a life with me, so I feel it's the least I could do, the best way to give us closure, you know what I mean?"

As Link looked to Scheherazade, he felt sorry for his kinswoman as her eyes displayed regret. Showing a severe sadness at having being forced to leave the one she loved, abandoning him and not being able to go back. Link understood this, in fact so much that, for a moment, when he looked at her, he saw himself as he was witnessing the ultimate end of his own relationship with his soul-mate.

"I think I have an idea…" Link said after a moments thought, deciding to help Scheherazade attain the conclusion she needed.

…

A few hours had passed since Link retired to his room. But he hadn't slept at all; in fact he didn't really pay that much attention to the room itself. Instead he spent the entire night stood at the window, watching the night sky through the gaps of the trees. Simply waiting, and partly hoping.

As the colour of a very pale blue began to creep across the sky, accompanied by the sound of chirping birds reverberating through the forest, Link picked up his equipment and moved out once again. He made his way out of the room, across the suspended bridges, down the grand staircase within the tree, and walked outside the bounds of the secluded village, he could feel eyes falling upon him once again but he kept his eyes straight ahead. That was until Link heard a loud rustling of leaves directly behind him, along with his senses flaring up.

"Hold it!" A voice called out to Link from an extremely short distance. The hero complied and turned to face the origin, which revealed to be the bodyguard who Link met last night, and had a slightly tense moment with.

"You…" The guard said, slightly perplexed as he looked to Link, by how he was dressed in his blue Zora tunic, rather than his customary Kokiri tunic.

"Hello again, is there something wrong?" Link asked innocently.

"But… I saw…" The guard murmured, before a hard realisation kicked in. "Oh no!"

At that moment, the guard turned around and ran towards the village, bearing Link no more thought. Which Link used as an opportunity to leave hastily, before the confusion passes over and he could be detained. He ran through the forest with all possible speed, ensuring the village disappeared from sight, and then running some more.

After some time, the sprint calmed into a slow walk, as he travelled once again through the forest, sticking to his chosen route like adhesive. Then he stopped, looking to some bushes with white flowers on them. It wasn't long after that before Link sensed someone drop down from above, he turned to see Scheherazade once again, holding a green tunic and hat in her hand.

"I was starting to get worried." Scheherazade stated with a sense of nonchalance in her voice. "Any problems?" She added, handing the green tunic and hat to Link.

"None, though I was concerned I had missed those flowers you described." Link answered, taking his possessions off her. "Oh, and I think you are currently being hunted."

"Nah, the Elders wouldn't dare let anyone else leave the forest. They'll only punish me if I return." Scheherazade said back. "And I don't plan on doing that anytime soon!" She added, to which Link couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you though, for doing this." Scheherazade said.

"No problem, you need closure before moving on. I understand completely." Link assured her. "Just a warning though," Link said, "the answer you find, it may not be the one you want…" he added, remembering his own personal quests to find answers to questions that haunted his mind.

"I understand." Scheherazade responded, quickly nodding her head, indicating that the same thoughts were crossing her mind.

"Well, we'd better split!" Scheherazade broke the silence, realising they were risking being found again.

"Yes." Link simply answered.

Scheherazade then started to run away from Link, making the smile disappear from his face. He understood that she had to leave in a hurry, in truth he didn't have much time to spare either, but a simple goodbye would have been nice.

But then Scheherazade stopped in her tracks, getting no further than a few paces away from Link.

"Will we meet again?" She asked, still looking away from Link.

He always hated that question. Mainly because there was never a guarantee, despite being told at the end of his second adventure that the duration of a parting depended on the person, but he knew it was more complicated than that.

"Perhaps once we have both found what we are looking for." Link responded, settling on that as the best answer.

Although Scheherazade was turned away from the hero, he could see her head lower to the ground, before suddenly bolting back towards Link. It wasn't so much this that shocked Link, but more when her head rapidly approached his, and her lips made contact with his cheek before pulling back again. Link's eyes widened as he grasped what just happened, his cheeks uncontrollably turning a pale pink colour.

"Until then Link!" She gleefully stated as she ran off into the trees, disappearing from sight before Link could see her face becoming a similar shade.

"Farewell, Scheherazade." Link quietly said placing his hand gently where she made contact with his cheek before continuing down his road, with his tunic in one hand, and his hat in the other.

**Author's Note:** Phew! For some reason this Chapter took AGES to write! Well, hope it was worth the wait!

In other news, just finished Ocarina of Time 3D not so long ago (I play games slowly alright?) and did some research into Operation Moonfall, the petition to get Majora's Mask on the 3DS. Personally I'm for it, mainly because without it I feel like Link's story is incomplete, kinda like having Toy Story 1 converted to a new media without 2 or 3...


	6. Out of the Shadows part I

**Chapter 6 – Out of the Shadows (part I)**

Tira's journey was proving to be long and extremely boring; at least on her last mission when she was on the trail of Soul Calibur, she had clearance from her Master to consume souls as she went along from the travellers or villages passing by. It provided a nice change from the constant walking that was always ahead of her when she woke up.

This time, however, no such order was given. She wasn't sure why, whether it was simply because her Master forgot to tell her, or it simply wasn't necessary. Whatever the reason, she decided to simply follow her orders word-by-word, which was to track down the source of the disturbance and bring it before her Master, and left it at that. Wandering from her Master's words would most likely result in her being punished once again.

So her days almost entirely consisted of traipsing across field after field, forest after forest, bypassing civilisation after civilisation, following the black ravens that flew high in the sky above her with her ring-bladed held over one shoulder. All while fighting off every feeling and temptation that crept into her mind except for one: to reach her target.

But when Tira woke up that morning, she had a feeling today would be different from any other day. She wasn't sure why or how, but something within her told her that she would find her target, and would at last put an end the constant travelling. Of course what she didn't realise was that she always felt like this moments upon awakening, feeling positive over the occurrences of the upcoming day, only for it to be crushed after realising there had been no change by the time she settled for the night. At that point, the cheerfulness was gone, and replaced with anger and frustration that she felt she was getting nowhere. And for the nights where she was so exhausted she was forced to sleep, Tira's final thoughts would often be ones of fear. A terror at the thought of having failed her Master once again.

_Am I a bad slave?_

Would often be the last memory of her days before falling to slumber, after remembering the days she was revered by her clan for her assassination skills, back when she was her father's favourite killer. Now she was the laughing stock of her new family, having been humiliated by failing her first mission, where she was ordered to seek out Soul Calibur, where she travelled all around the world, only to find herself back at Ostrheinsburg as the enemy had always kept one step ahead of her, where she watched as her Master fought for its life against Soul Calibur.

How could she have gone from such greatness to being nothing more than an inconvenience?

By morning though, all such thoughts had disappeared and she sprang up, stretching her limbs as far as they could, yawning as she did so.

"Morning birdie!" She chirped merrily to one of her travelling companions who perched on the branch of a fallen tree. "I'm so excited! We're gonna find him today, aren't we?" She asked innocently and excitedly.

The raven simply glared at her for a while with its red, beady eye, before darkly croaking at her and raising itself to the air to inform the others that it was time to move on. Whether it was annoyed at her for asking that question constantly, or perplexed that a human was trying to communicate with it, was unknown as its expression was completely unreadable. But for Tira there was no such debate, they had seen her through her previous mission and were now here to help her. That, in her mind, made them the only creatures she would ever dream of calling 'a friend' and the thought of her being an annoyance to them was simply inconceivable, even if it were the truth.

"Be with you in a second!" She called out to it as she scrambled to find her ring-blade perched against a tree. "O.K. I'm ready!" She announced, as more croaks began to stir from the trees and the sky became occupied by the dark ravens.

…

Link's eyes recoiled as the light from the distance proved to be too much for them to handle. That could have only meant one thing: the end of the forest was in sight! His pace quickened as that thought passed through and, slowly but surely, the glare from the sun faded and the land finally opened up again into a vast expanse of field.

He sighed heavily as the relief flowed through him, and he took in the environment around him. Even though the sun was shining for now, there was an overcast looming in the sky and the air became very stuffy, looking as though it required a rainfall before it could clear. He looked to the west to see any sign of his destination on the horizon, and although he could not see any structure or faint outline of a tower, he could see that the clouds suddenly darkened above an area just visible on the landscape. While he wasn't certain, Link was convinced that the cloud was looming over Ostrheinsburg. He wasn't sure whether it was his senses detecting the evil in that area, or his memories of Ganon's Castle towering above him that gave him his feeling.

After tearing his vision away from the horizon and thoughts of what the future held, Link scanned the remainder of his surroundings, and stopped when he noticed a small village not so far away. He wasn't particularly tired or running low on supplies, but after spending days upon days of endless walking through the forest, he felt it was necessary to see civilisation once again. Thus, he began to walk towards the village.

…

The day proceeded like they previously did for Tira, the ravens would fly in formation in the sky above, and on the ground following them would be the assassin, skipping joyfully with her eyes shut, singing about what she was going to do to her target when she finally caught up with him.

As her eyelids opened though to check where her friends were, she found they weren't where they normally were. After enduring momentary panic caused by the thought that she had lost them, Tira found that they were simply further ahead than they normally were.

And her eyes narrowed as she noticed they weren't proceeding, instead they circled each other above a nearby village that was directly ahead of her.

Tira's eyes narrowed; she knew what this meant: her target was within that location. After a moment of utter relief at being so close to her goal, Tira proceeded quickly; her back arched forwards and treading as lightly as she could, using extreme caution to avoid detection. The skipping, the songs, and the innocence all seemingly disappeared. Replaced by something much darker.

…

There was something strange about the village. Link realised this as he got closer and closer towards its boundary. It wasn't until a moment of analysing that he realised why: the main street that was facing him, supposed to be welcoming him to the town, was completely empty.

He continued onwards, but with a sense of uneasiness. His mind was slightly settled as he suggested the inhabitants may simply be indoors for whatever reason. He looked to each building to either side of him as he passed under the banner, but there was nothing. The wind eerily whistled as it flowed through the town, causing the loosely hinged window guards to occasionally bang against the frames, and the dirt of the road to rustle across the floor, sometimes hitting the boots of the hero. But other than that, there was utter silence.

And that was what was partly strange for Link. Something had obviously happened. But there was no sign that a conflict had taken place, no scratch marks on the walls caused by swords, no arrows protruding from the buildings, no scorch marks or burnt-down structures. But the definitive proof for him was that he couldn't feel any lingering spirits, souls that remained where their lives were stripped away from them, unlike when he visited Ikana Canyon in Termina.

Link began walking towards what resembled a simple house, to see if there was anything that could suggest what happened. He didn't know why, but he knocked on the door and waited for a response. Rather unsurprisingly, there was none, so he pushed against it, only to find it was locked. He pushed again, this time harder; the wood creaked but remained firm. So he put all his strength into his shoulder, and lunged at it, causing the door the swing open as the wood around the lock shattered. The interior of the house was now exposed to light for what seemed the first time in a while.

Link peered inside, to find it was a simple house of a single room. The ornaments were in great quantity and were neatly arranged, suggesting to Link that a collector once resided there.

But again, there was nothing. No-one was inside, no wandering spirit prevailed the air, and no sign of conflict. Now there was another factor: there was also no suggestion that the villagers evacuated for the door was locked, the arrangements were still in order rather than being missing or knocked over in the rush to leave. And as Link looked out to the street, he saw no carriages that were in the middle of being packed up.

Nothing. It was as though the village was alive one minute, and then the next, silence.

There was one change though, a very faint and subtle change, coming from the skies above the hero. He looked up, and noticed a flock of black birds circling above. His head then shifted back down, bearing them no more thought, though he did wonder briefly about their precision, as he was in the dead centre of their formed circle.

_There's nothing more I can do here._

Link concluded as he wandered to the centre of the long road. Disappointed, he took out his compass and prepared to set off once again.

_Hopefully the next place will a bit more-_

Link's trail of thought and movement came to a complete halt, as another presence suddenly appeared, one much larger than those that circled above him. Localised entirely to within a few metres behind his back.

"You lost, mister?"

A chill went down Link's back as he listened to that voice. She was a female; he knew that much from the tone. Something else he could tell from that simple sentence was that she was looking for a fight. No, more than that, she wanted to _kill_ him. That very thought made Link really hesitant to turn around. But he knew if he just ignored her and walked away she would attack him anyway, and talking to her might resolve whatever problem she had without conflict.

And so, he turned around and sure enough, there was a young woman stood no further than ten metres away from him. They both wore green and both appeared to be young adults, with her being slightly younger than Link. That, however, was where the similarities ended. Link could only describe her clothing as strange, as the top-half of her outfit seemed to be nothing more than rags with harsh stitching that barely covered the woman's chest. Link's eyes sheepishly shot away from that area to anywhere else, noticing the purple material that covered her arms, the metallic padding over her shins, the odd, green feather motif that decorated her wrists, calves and neck, before finally coming to her face.

Her black hair grabbed Link's attention first, being wild and out-of-control. Everything Link had seen so far suggested she was no warrior, but then scratching away at the surface would reveal that that feeling was her own intention. Such examples were her clothing, with its strange design and ragged-look reminding Link of a beggar. But then analysing it further would reveal something darker, with her fitted shin guards showing she knew how to fight, and the placement of her tears showing she was willing to any use weapon needed to win, even her own body.

Her face, however, was the best example of this, as she was undoubtedly a very attractive woman, complete with a beauty spot under her right eye. But then her eyes… the moment his sapphire eyes made contact with her indigo there was conflict. While his displayed kindness with an underlying feeling of uneasiness, hers displaying determination to the highest degree. So much so that Link wasn't sure what the effort was for; whether it was because she was concentrating because she was aware of his abilities, or whether it was required to keep herself restrained.

Another thing about this woman Link noticed was that she had no weapon. No scabbard, no quiver, nothing. All she had equipped was a giant ring made of metal that was slung around her shoulder. His first thoughts upon realising her weapon of choice was along the lines of '_surely not_', but then was this another attempt to throw off others? And give them the wrong impressions about her?

"N-no, not really," Link replied, hoping that his theories were nothing more than fiction. "Are you?"

"Me?" She eventually replied, "No… All I'm after… is you!" She added as she lifted her ring blade off her shoulder so that the centre was level with her head, making Link prepare for the worst.

"Look, I do not want to-" Link's began before he was interrupted by the woman suddenly charging towards him, with her ring blade twisted for a horizontal slash.

His eyes widened as this registered, she approached with such speed that Link had only a short amount of time to react. Fortunately though that was all he needed, as he ducked under the swipe and rolled forwards, creating some distance between the two.

_Looks like I have no choice…_

He thought as he placed his compass on the floor, and immediately grabbed the hilt of the Master Sword and the handle of the Hylian Shield, drawing them as he rose to his feet and turned to meet his adversary. His were eyes deadly serious, but clearly masking the fear and anxiety within himself.

The attacker leapt straight back into reach, with her ring blade swiping from side-to-side, her body moving with it as though it were some intricate dance routine. Her body twisted, making him tempted to strike back whilst she wasn't looking, only to be quickly raising his shield once again as the attack came. Link was managing to block each blow with his shield, but was amazed by how fast and fluid she was, especially when considering her unorthodox weapon.

For a time, he kept glancing towards his compass which laid on the floor at their feet to make sure neither of them had stood on it, but this habit was quickly dropped when he focussed instead on her. He would sometimes catch glimpses of her eyes as she attacked, each time seeing pure lust within them. She was _loving_ this, and simply wanted more, seeing how much she could wear him down before he could take no more.

Link continued to block the attacks, but was now also watching her movements very carefully, looking for holes for him to exploit. Her attacks were like a dance routine, with him as her "partner", meaning in order for her to continue attacking he had to proceed as she expected him to, which was clearly what he was doing now for her attacks weren't stopping. But if he were to "stumble" unexpectedly, the routine would be interrupted and she would have to take some time to correct it once again, by which time Link would be on the offensive.

How was the hero's next question. How does he interrupt her routine? She was probably trained to respond to simple actions, like him stepping away, she'd probably just close the gap in one, quick step. He could try to dodge an attack completely, but they were so fast that the risk was deemed too high. The only viable solution he could come up with was a counter: where he'd force her attack to proceed beyond what she intended, allowing him to launch a counterattack while she was disorientated.

Link widened his legs to give him more stability, tightened his grip of his sword and shield, and narrowed his eyes. He was ready, and watched as the attacker spun her body around and delivered a full horizontal swing with her blade. Her arm came around, and her weapon came into contact with his shield. But rather than using the momentum of the recoil to begin her next attack, Link angled his shield so that her arm continued moving, her ring-blade merely slipping across his shield. Link then yanked his right arm towards the floor while her weapon was still sliding across it, causing the attacker's body to lurch forwards and for her to completely lose balance as she stepped forward, her back completely open to an attack. The hero took this advantage, as he took one big step to have a clear shot, raised his sword in the air, and brought it down with serious force.

But then, right at the last second, he froze… the blade of his sword mere inches away from the young woman's back. In the wake of her ferocity, Link had momentarily forgotten that she wasn't like all the creatures he had slain, she too was a living being, and upon remembering this, Link found it impossible to end it.

Before long though, she had recovered. Her head glanced over her shoulder, seeing his sword hovering above her. For a brief moment, she contemplated why he didn't finish her, until the thought disappeared and was replaced with wanting to prevent him from continuing. With her back still turned to Link, the attacker swung her ring-blade over her back in an attempt to either catch his arm or deflect his sword. Fortunately, neither occurred since Link saw this coming and withdrew his arm before any contact was made.

Using the momentum from her attempt, the woman swung her entire body around so that she faced Link once again. Before Link could regret not finishing the fight there and then, he went back onto the offensive, wanting to not be reeling from her attacks again. He attacked any area that would merely wound her, such as her arms and legs, avoiding any other part of her body as much as possible, hoping that due to her weapon, she was possibly not very proficient at defending herself.

But as the strikes continued, Link found himself avoiding those fatal areas less and less often, as he watched her either deflect his sword with her ring-blade or dodge them completely as she circled around him constantly, refusing to stand still.

Eventually frustration got the better of him, as he plunged his sword towards her chest, attempting to anticipate where she would be, realising too late that this would most certainly kill her. Luckily for him though, it missed her completely. It then took him a while to realise that while her body was clear of it, her ring-blade wasn't, as she held it around his sword, as though he stabbed through the centre of it. The attacker then twisted her arm, causing the flat section of her ring-blade to slap against the underneath of Link's wrist with such force that he totally lost grip of the Master Sword. He could then only watch as his blade spun through the air and landed a good distance away from the two.

With Link's eyes still drawn towards his lost sword, the attacker seized this opportunity and performed a vertical slice. Link saw this coming, just out of the corner of his eye and leapt back to narrowly avoid it, feeling a sharp pain on his still-extended left forearm as he did so. He instinctively took a few steps back to create some distance, not thinking that doing so would create more ground to cover between him and the Master Sword, which was the true intention of her attack. Link eventually stood his ground, and prepared for another attack as raised his shield to cover as much of his body as possible.

But the attack never came; instead she simply walked slowly so that she stood directly in front of him. Link used this time to examine the pain on his forearm. She had sliced through the white material and had caused him to draw blood, but it was nothing serious. Giving the wound no more thought, Link looked back to the woman, and raised an eyebrow as he noticed she had stopped and appeared to be examining her ring-blade intently.

Shaking off the confusion, Link decided to use this time to strategise, he knew he needed a plan and fast! His mind entered the state where it scrolled through a thousand thoughts in less than a second, searching for possible methods, discarding them whenever they became too risky or nigh-on impossible. Although he could call upon speed when the need arose, this woman had proven she was also very fast and nimble. Her strength, however, was an uncertainty. Another factor considered was her odd weapon of choice; surely there was a way he could use her unorthodox blade to his advantage?

But this came to a stop as she focussed on a certain segment of her ring-blade. There was a spot of blood on it, and Link deducted it was his own. He then looked visibly stunned as she licked the blood off her blade, and smirked towards him.

_This girl has problems!_

With what he just witnessed in mind, Link knew he had no chance of winning without the Master Sword, not whilst she herself was armed. This meant he either had to regain the Master Sword, or the more difficult task of disarming her. And with his blade being so far away, with his opponent positioned between the two, Link quietly sighed as he admitted he had to go for the harder option.

Seemingly at that moment though, one method presented itself. It was highly risky as it depended on a lot of factors Link had no knowledge of, but if it worked, it would eliminate her advantage over him.

Link focussed on the attacker once again, finding that she had not moved. Instead she simply glared at him, with a look of domination in her eyes that would place fear in her normal opponents. But with his scheme ready to be executed, Link was determined to be no "normal" enemy, as he hunched his shoulders tightly and looked back to her with defiance in his eyes.

He was insistent that the battle was anything but over…

**Author's Note:** I know this chapter's a little on the short side, but I had to celebrate this story's 1st birthday somehow!


	7. Out of the Shadows part II

**Chapter 7 – Out of the Shadows (part II)**

The Watchers were perched on the rooftops of the forgotten buildings; their beady, blood-red eyes were fixated on the ground below them. Drawn to the two warriors as they stared each other down, one who was armed and confident that the battle belonged to her, and the other stood before her, unarmed yet not fearful. No sound was being made from the black ravens, as they gazed down on the hero and the slave like beings who loomed over and stared down upon their own shadows.

For Link the wait had been long enough. If she was not to attack first, then it was down to him to break the silence. In fact this was probably for the best, since it fell into the first phase of his plan completely: to make her think she was winning. He charged fully towards her, which surprised her since he had nothing but his shield to attack with. But attacking her was not his intention; instead he merely wanted to look determined to get to his sword, a desperate act from a nervous fighter. And she appeared to take the bait, as she simply smirked at Link and positioned her blade so that it covered her chest for when his shield would inevitably come into contact.

And as they did, a mighty clang came as the two steel weapons crashed and were ground together. Link made sure he didn't place all of his strength into his push, since he wanted her to believe that he was getting tired. Thus, his resistance faded away rather quickly and soon as she felt it she pushed him away. Link made sure he exaggerated his stumble as he stepped back. The attacker then quickly stepped into range, preparing to attack him.

_So far, so good…_

Link thought as he considered part one of his plan complete.

The two young warriors were once again caught in combat, with the woman on the offensive again. Link was, again, blocking each blow but delaying his response to allow her to think she was dominating him. Her attacks were more ferocious than they were before, but all he had to do was survive, and wait for her to do a certain attack. He looked into her eyes once again, and although they were still cold and bloodthirsty, he could not help but notice she appeared to be getting tired. But he ignored this, purely because he was attempting to do the exact same thing.

Then, Link found what he was waiting for, a forward thrust with the blade's surface flat. His eyes narrowed as he fell to the ground in order to dodge the attack, using all of his speed so that the strike hadn't arrived yet and waited, using the time watching the area above him. As the blade came into view, Link kicked out his leg as hard as he could towards the rim, at the point furthest away from the attacker. The Hylian then observed as the ring-blade was forced over the woman's head, continuing as the far-side managed to loop around to her back, her grip most likely loosened by the sweat protruding through her gloves.

Link knew he was walking the razor's edge with this tactic, since their trade of blows had proven she was just as agile as him, perhaps even more so. Hence his reliance on the element of surprise as he continued, hoping she would not latch on to what he was doing. One aspect, however, that their previous flurries had not proven at all was whether Link was stronger.

As quickly as he could, Link then grabbed both sides of the ring-blade, making sure his gauntlets absorbed any injuries that may have been attained. Pausing for only a split second, Link tensed the muscles in his arms and pulled down on the blade as hard as he could, his breath held tightly as he placed all possible strength in his arms. The force of his pull, along with the slight disorientation, meant the woman's grip of the weapon gave way completely and the ring-blade slammed against the ground with a mighty thud.

But Link couldn't allow any thoughts of relief pass through, as he felt her hands clutch onto each side of his head, quickly deducing that she wanted to hold it in place as she kneed or kicked him in the face. He brought up his left forearm, using it to block any kick from her. Link then raised his shield so that it served as a wall between him and the woman's stomach, and charged forward with all his might. The shield smacked into her, causing the attacker to lose her breath as her hands slipped from Link's head and her upper body fell onto Link's back, reeling from the force of his push. She soon regained her senses and placed her hands on Link's back, in an effort to leapfrog over him. By this time, Link deemed that she was far enough, thus ceased his charge and shoved her away from his shield.

He took a quick glance towards the floor, seeing her ring-blade just behind his right foot. With his eyes now fixed on her, Link placed his foot over her blade and kicked it further away from the two, eliminating any chance of her recovering it, not without giving him enough time regain the Master Sword.

There was a very brief thought of utter delight as he reflected back. They were now both completely unarmed though Link still had his shield, which could at least operate as a weapon if necessary, and to mention all his equipment. But this optimism almost immediately vanished as he looked back to her, with a look of absolute rage in her eyes, her teeth showing as she growled at him like a feral beast. He then recognised that she was still a force to be reckoned with.

She then stepped towards him once again, Link was surprised at how determined she was to fight once again, expecting her to wait at least another moment while she calmed down, and formed a plan in her head. But by this point, it was clear as day to the hero that 'planning' or 'analysing' were words that simply did not exist to this woman. She just fought, and took opportunities whenever they happened to arise. If not, then she just carried on.

Despite this however, she was smart enough to realise that Link still had a weapon to use to his advantage. And in response to this, she attacked almost exclusively with her legs, using her shin-pads and the bottom of her boots to take the full impact whenever they banged against his shield.

Again, the whole flurry seemed like a dance routine; she had obviously be trained to fight with whatever was at her disposal, even if she was reduced to her own body. She spun around, delivering multiple kicks in the blink of an eye, and Link was forced to watch her entire body in order to respond to each attack accordingly. Whether it was blocking the mid and high strikes with his shield or left forearm, and raising a leg briefly to avoid the low kicks.

Once Link had felt comfortable, he started to think of ways to break out of this routine again, deciding very quickly to perform a counter once more. He then studied his enemy's attacks, attempting to find the strike which allowed the best opportunity. After briefly watching her, it seemed the strikes to his shield were the best, since the size of it made the whole manoeuvre easier as well as more effective.

Link continued to block her attacks. And it didn't take long for an attack to approach his shield. He quickly unstrained his fingers that were wrapped around the handle of his shield before tightening them once again; he was ready. The kick made contact, and Link threw his shield out to his right while the foot was placed on it, yanking her leg way off-course and causing the attacker to turn her back to Link once again.

But as Link prepared for a follow-up, he watched her continue to turn so that she very quickly faced him once again, with her leg still extended. She had used the momentum of his counter to provide a faster, stronger attack. A strike to which Link had no time to respond to, other than to widen his eyes in shock, before the full force of her metal shin-plates smacked against his cheek.

The world was spinning for the hero as he recoiled. All he could register was that he had been hit, and it knocked his head so that it faced to his right, and he was stumbling because of it. But there was nothing he could do about it. He raised his shield in any direction, in a blind effort to block anymore attacks like that from happening.

But just as Link was regaining his bearings, another strike would be dealt against him, mostly blows to the back of his head, which would send his senses wild again, raising his shield in the general direction of the attack before registering another hit.

He then suddenly felt his right arm being extended, before receiving a painful, heavy stomp on his forearm, instinctively causing his fingers to lose the grip of his shield. The next sensation Link felt was his right arm suddenly being relieved a large amount of weight, and hearing a large clang as though metal had just been thrown to the ground not too far away. It didn't take long for Link to realise what this meant. But again, there was nothing he could do about it. He had very little experience in hand-to-hand combat, no philosophies nor strategies on what to do in these situations, because he simply hadn't been in it before.

There was one thought that went through his head though…

_Just keeping standing!_

He knew he was defenceless, but he also knew she had no weapon, no means of finishing him off. That would only occur if he were to completely lose all sense of balance and fall to the ground, allowing her to proceed to her weapon unhindered. He knew she could just abandoned him, very much possible for her to just run around him, but doing so would give him the necessary time to recover, and retrieve his own weapon. Thoughts of winning the battle disappeared, all that remained was the need to stand his ground, and prevent her from delivering the final blow to him.

…

Tira was having the time of her life, beating this guy up, it allowed her to vent out the frustration she had been feeling for the past few days. And when that wasn't enough, she began to feed on the anger she felt over the past few months, where she was being punished by her Master while other servants took her place. Her opponent was raising his arms in an attempt to defend himself, but she just worked around him. He absolutely hopeless at this, he just kept taking the hits and returning for more. And Tira loved how it was feeling.

But slowly, this joyful sensation was disappearing. She knew she couldn't get to her weapon while he was standing on his feet, even with all her speed, she knew it was highly likely he too would regain his sword while she attained hers. He needed to be down on the ground. But she kept hitting him, and hitting him, and hitting him. And he wasn't falling. He just kept stumbling and returning for more like some mongrel who never tired of games.

Her arms and legs were getting heavy from all the attacks, her breathing was becoming more and more irregular, and her anger levels were rapidly rising. Why wouldn't this idiot just go down?

"Break already!" She shouted to him, with no response.

Eventually, she had to pause, her fatigue getting the better of her. She watched him to see if he would just collapse by himself. But instead, he corrected the positioning of his head so that he faced her once again. All to find that her flurry had caused nothing but he few bruises and a bloody nose.

That was it. Tira snapped as she plunged right into the chest of her opponent, causing him to lose wind as the two fell backwards onto his back. It was then that another opportunity presented itself to Tira, one which brought a vast amount of glee to her enraged mind.

She grabbed hold of his left arm, then right arm and pinned down his entire body with her own, having more physical contact with him than she had in too long a time. She grinned devilishly to her opponent, he was regaining his senses, but it didn't matter, as she slowly closed her eyes. He was now hers.

…

There was a radical change for Link; that was the first thing he noticed. A positive effect of that was that he was no longer receiving blows like a punching bag, throwing his senses off constantly. Due to this, it didn't take long for him to regain a vague idea of what happened.

His back hurt particularly his lower back, as it felt as though he had landed on something. His lungs felt as though they had all air pushed right out of them, but were gradually recovering. His arms were restrained, as was his entire body. And his opponent was close… real close. Her body was pressed against his, her entire weight was down upon him. His eyes adjusted to the sunlight that made the figure on top of him nothing more than a black outline, making its dark details visible to him. Her face was awkwardly close, her indigo eyes glaring dominantly into his as she smirked at him, as though she was somehow victorious. Her eyes then closed, as she drew her head very slowly towards his.

_She's not… Is she?_

Link questioned, unsure of how she could act so inconsistently. Was this all just some method of relieving sexual tension for her? Some strange fantasy she loves to enact? Or was there something else? Something that was, somehow, sinister?

In any case, Link was not prepared to lay there and find out, as he began to plan possible ways of escaping… whatever she had in mind. Her weight was down on him entirely, so if he was able to overpower her, then she would be helpless.

He had no time to think of alternatives, as her closed eyelids were now all that Link could see, her cold, rapid breathes could be felt on his dry lips. He immediately mustered all of his remaining strength into his arms, and completely threw her off his chest, able to see her eyes suddenly shoot open again as she disappeared from sight. And before she could retaliate, Link rolled over too, on top of her body so that their positions had effectively switched.

Only Link had learned from her mistakes, he pinned down her left arm with his right; his kneecap was placed directly over her right palm, firmly holding it; his shins crossed over her calves so that she could not attack his lower body, all allowing his chest to be as far away from hers as possible to prevent another reversal. And while she thrashed about uncontrollably underneath him, Link's left hand fumbled around in his pouch, frantically searching for something.

…

Tira couldn't believe what was happening. She was mere millimetres away from finally taking her prey's soul, but he just refused to give up, even when his hopes were gone. She tried prying her arms free, but it was no use, his arms and leg pinned them down, and he was stronger than he looked. She kicked her legs up in protest, again no use, he was not directly above her, making him too high up for her legs to touch any part of his body. Then she felt a sharp object touch her neck, she looked to him, finding his eyes fixated on hers.

_He had a dagger this whole time?_

She asked, wondering why he didn't produce it while they were fighting hand-to-hand. But all concern over this immediately disappeared as the realisation sank in: he had her. He had won.

There was no death blow however, instead there was nothing. Tira scrolled through her mind as to why, why didn't he finish her? The first answer that sprang to mind was that he wanted her to pay; he wanted her to suffer before killing her. The second being that he wanted to have some _fun_ with her first. She looked to him with apprehension, just waiting for him to do whatever it was he wanted to do, she just wanted it over with.

Nothing, however, would have prepared her for what he said.

"Surrender." He simply commanded her.

Was that it? Was that the reason he didn't kill her? She looked deeply into his eyes, and behind the veil of the ice blue seriousness he was displaying, there was a clear unwillingness to end her life, for whatever reason. At this moment, all sense of danger disappeared from Tira's mind, if he was dense enough to have a conscious, then she wasn't going to be stupid to give up her efforts. She smirked back to him and broke eye contact, instead continuing to struggle fruitlessly against his pin.

And then, the sharpness Tira felt against her neck suddenly intensified, pressing so hard against her skin that her head was forced to arch back, preventing her from moving her head at all. She looked back to him, and although the guilt was still present, it was masked much more thoroughly, now he looked determined as their eyes continued their combat.

"I do not want to, but I will if I have to." He said, darkly, through gritted teeth, making Tira realise she was losing their internal struggle, as she felt fear for something other than her Master. Her mind was no longer full of anger, nor was it full of joy… just the one emotion that she hated the most.

Whether he was willing or not was not a question for Tira, his eyes were all she needed to see in order to feel the panic of your life being in the hands of someone else. At any moment, he could tire of waiting and just plunge the knife into her neck. But, so far, he hadn't. All he was doing was just hovering over her, his eyes glaring into hers as he placed the control of the outcome back into her hands.

She didn't know how much time had passed, but it seemed like an eternity. An endless loop of the two staring at each other, Link's sheer determination was smashing against Tira's fearless front, slowly revealing a sensation she hadn't felt for a long time.

Then, Tira finally whispered the words he had been hoping to hear…

"I surrender."

The warrior then suddenly rose to his feet and walked away, breaking eye contact almost immediately as his head shot in another direction, placing his knife back into a pouch before she could get a proper look at it.

As the young man walked away, Tira began to reflect on what she just did. She had just surrendered to someone other than her father or her Master, the only people who had either bested her in combat or she wouldn't dream of fighting in the first place. But now she had been defeated, and she admitted this to her opponent. And to make matters worse, he offered her mercy, and she accepted it!

With that, anger began to seep into her mind. She had been given that which she refused to give to countless people. But instead of making her guilty, it simply made the assassin feel humiliation to the highest degree, which inevitably led to anger towards this stranger.

But Tira's thoughts came to an abrupt end, as she noticed something approaching her while she sat on the dust-ridden floor. Her head shot towards the direction of the movement, to find the unmistakable form of Eiserne Drossel rolling towards her, perfectly balanced. She put out her hand to stop her weapon's roll, and looked to where it came from, where the young man now stood with both his sword and shield regained and sheathed, looking back at her.

_What's he doing?_

She thought, wondering about his actions. He seemed to be giving her weapon back to her. But why was a question that was most perplexing to Tira.

_Does he want to fight again?_

She asked and soon settled upon as an answer, followed by feelings of dark excitement as she eagerly anticipated repaying him for his "kindness", trying desperately to shut out the thoughts of terror.

"Why did you attack me?" He asked suddenly.

The question threw Tira a little. She was expecting him to draw his sword once again, or gesture to her to get up, or charge towards her. But instead he asked _why_. She could not figure out why that even mattered. When locked in combat of any sort, you strike down your opponent without a moment's hesitation. 'Why' doesn't enter the equation. All that matters is 'how'. Namely, 'how' you escape such an attempt with your life. Throughout her life, it was as simple as that.

Almost instinctively, her mouth opened to form an answer. But no words came out, mainly because she had no idea of how to respond. Instead, she gazed at him, attempting to understand what his true intentions were.

But this opportunity was lost, as he eventually did a very minor nod towards her, understanding that she didn't wish to answer his question. He then broke the eye contact between the two, turned so that his back faced her, and began to walk away.

_Why's he walking away?_

Tira then asked herself, and becoming rapidly annoyed for constantly repeating that phrase. Why? Why did he offer her mercy? Why did he give her weapon back to her? Why did he want to know the reason behind her attack? Why was he now walking away, as though nothing had even happened? Nothing about this stranger made sense to Tira, and her confusion was very quickly being converted into anger.

She continued to watch him as he walked, staring at him as he stopped, and twisted his body so that he faced her once more.

"Go home." He ordered her. "I am sure there are people there worried about you." He then added, with a very sincere look in his eyes, before turning and continuing away from her.

At first, Tira reflected on the word 'home' and for reasons unknown to her, the first thoughts were the memories of that brief period in her life where she was adopted into a loving family who proved for her… until she brought it to an abrupt end. Then, a terrifying thought entered her mind.

_Master!_

It was only until now that she remembered her mission: seek out the threat and bring it before her Master. But he had defeated her, proving to be the superior fighter. This meant she couldn't complete her task. She had failed, again. Tira's mood then sunk to a severe low.

She looked up to the tops of the structures that stood over her, where her friends were perched. She hoped they would offer comfort to her, fly down to her to show that they cared, to raise her spirits, to say to her "You did your best". Instead they gazed at her, their blood-red beady eyes, wide open, burning straight at her, towering over her, reminding her of her now impeding punishment as she returned to her Master.

Tira could feel tears forming in her eyes; she shut them tightly and dropped her head so that it faced the ground. There was no denying it now: she was a terrible slave. She was worthless and didn't deserve to live, let alone serve Soul Edge; the greatest force to ever walk the earth.

And in her sadness, in the midst of her panic of what the future held for her, Tira clenched her fist. Her teeth grinded together like two blades locked. Her eyes shot open, unable to hide the tears that had formed and began to trickle down her face, but her eyes were the embodiment of steel. Cold, hardened, and completely unwavering.

She turned this terrifying expression towards the stranger, who was still within her sight. She clasped onto the handle of Eiserne Drossel tightly as she rose to her feet. Her eyes not daring to move away from him.

Without warning, or even a second's thought, she charged towards him. Her body was now nothing more than a chariot that was being led by out-of-control horses, with her rage being their avatar.

In a flash, she reached him and swung her ring-blade with such recklessness and little consideration. But she didn't care. She was going to kill him. That was all she wanted, no, _needed_. It never even entered her mind as to how.

But as the attack finished, Tira didn't feel her blade shredding into any flesh, instead it swept through the air unhindered. Before she could even understand what had happened, she suddenly felt her body being pushed to the floor by a hard object smacking into her stomach. Her vision then became rapidly perplexed as she rolled across the floor, with something on top of her.

Eventually, the spinning came to a stop and Tira attempted to regain her senses. It didn't take her long to realise that something was still on top of her; a figure of a person. This dark green silhouette then stretched above her, reaching to something in the sky. She raised an arm in an attempt to stop whatever was happened. But to no avail as it was suddenly brought down on her at an incredible speed, and everything instantly went black for Tira. Her last, recognisable vision being that of a sword being pounded against her face.

…

Link immediately felt guilty as he raised the hilt of the Master Sword from her face. After seeing her body go limp, he worried that he was perhaps too heavy-handed. Before realising that, in a way, he had no choice. He had convinced her to surrender, allowing the fight to end without any bloodshed. But she refused to accept this, and instead charged towards him, with such anger that it was only because her yell as she approached echoed throughout the entire village, instantly alerting him to her presence and intention.

He got off her again, and looked down to her unconscious body as his sword was sheathed. His senses then warned him of another change. He looked back down the main street, but there was nothing different. Only black birds beginning to scramble from the rooftops they were once perched, croaking as they began to fly off into the distance with Link watching them as they did so.

Giving them no more thought, Link shifted back to the woman. Numerous questions scrolled through his head: who was she? Why did she attack him? How were those ravens related? But perhaps the most prominent question was what made her act the way she did? What happened that turned such a pretty girl into a psychotic killer? Of course even as he shook those curiosities off, that still left the most difficult one: what should he do now?

After reflecting on this for some time, three solutions presented themselves. Nothing, try to help her or put her out of her misery? At once Link scratched the third option, though her mind was incomprehensible, it was still a mind; a fact that differentiated her from those Link had indeed killed. The second option was the one his heart was telling him to choose, but his head was counteracting this with a lot of viable points. He didn't know what was wrong with her, thus was in no position to help. Also, she may have _chosen_ this path, and had no wish to deviate from it. Thus leaving the first option which seemed the most sensible to the hero. Perhaps it was best that they did not mingle with each other's lives, for disagreements would crop up on a daily basis, disagreements which would probably end up with more fights which in all likelihood would only end once one of them was dead. Besides, he had his own problems to contend with.

Remembering this, Link's mind suddenly snapped back to his compass, which he had forgotten about since the middle of their battle. He snapped his head around, and saw a small blue object on the ground, giving a brief huff of breath as he walked towards it.

But he noticed something odd about it, there was a patch of liquid on the ground next to it. As he stood over it, Link then saw that the protective glass over the arrows was completely smashed, allowing the liquid within to spill. As well as that, the needle that held the arrows in place and pointed them in the correct direction was broken, as it lay on its side within the cover.

Link picked up both parts and attempted to reattach them himself. But it was no use. Even if he did manage to fix it, the loss of the liquid still meant it was useless.

_Perfect._

He concluded as he dropped what was in his hands to the ground. He had no-one to go to for directions, and even if he did he wouldn't know which way to go. The overcast had spread now, so even after scanning the horizon as hard as he could, Link could no longer see the dark clouds that he noticed before. Link was truly lost.

_Unless…_

Link had a sudden brainwave, as his head turned to the woman who still lied limp on the ground. She must have been at least aware of Soul Edge, quite a lot of people of this world had proven that, Link reasoned. Plus, he remembered her words when they met:

"_All I'm after… is you!"_

That meant she either already knew of this presence in this world, or she was sent by someone who was. And on reflecting on his actions whilst in this world, he asked himself who could be aware of his arrival? The bandits he fought when he arrived? Not likely for that was in Athens, many, many miles away, plus they were simple thugs and wouldn't be determined enough to chase him all the way out here.

But Soul Edge, that was another matter. It has known of Link ever since it sent that wizard to terrorise Hyrule, and learned of the existence of parallel worlds. And those creatures he fought when he saved Pyrrha, there were undoubtedly servants of Soul Edge for Sophitia was warned of their kidnap attempt.

Thus, it seemed perfectly logical to him to assume that this attacker knew where Ostrheinsburg was. And while he did briefly consider what to do if he was wrong, Link decided to postpone such ideas, for he had no other options.

With his mind made up, Link walked back towards the attacker, knelt down once he stood above her, and gently picked her up. With the woman comfortably in his arms, Link turned back to the house that he "broke into" earlier, deciding it was best to let her rest and gradually recover from their battle, whilst he contemplated on how he could convince her to help her, to make her thoughts not focus on killing him…

**Author's Note:** Once again sorry for the delay. After the somewhat rushed nature of Chapter 6, I decided to take my time with this one. Hope this still stands up!


	8. Out of the Shadows part III

**Author's Note:** Welcome back! Now before we begin, I wanna do something I really should've done from the beginning... and that's to thank everyone who has been reading this so far! Even though it's been a while since I updated, seeing this story get added to someone's alert or 'favourites' still really makes my day!

And, of course, a BIG thank you to everyone who has taken the time to make a review!

That's all I wanted to say. Hope you all continue to enjoy this from now up to the eventual conclusion. Which at this rate, we'll reach by... oh, about... 2030...

**Chapter 8 – Out of the Shadows (part III)**

Several hours had passed, as the day had given way to the night in the village. The sounds of the birds cheerfully tweeting as the ground was brightly lit, were now instead replaced silence, which now prevailed over the cold, grey earth. Link had gently placed his former opponent in the bed provided, it wasn't in the greatest of conditions, with it being incredibly dusty and the hay normally kept within was now protruding from the mattress, but it was adequate in providing warmth and comfort. Link also used this time to wrap a small bandage around the wound on his arm and stitched the tear in his undergarment back together, constantly cursing as he fumbled in his efforts, it had been a few years since he had to do such a task.

He also found a mirror to examine the facial wounds he had attained. But they weren't as grotesque as he thought they would be. Mainly just light bruises dotted around his face, with big bruises on his cheeks and a streak of dried blood from his mouth, caused by a cut that had since ceased. Overall, it was nothing a sip of his Red Potion couldn't fix. Link blessed his luck for the reward that was given to him by the Great Fairy of Courage during his adventure in Termina which enhanced the solidity of his skin, making wounds less damaging to him than they should have been.

With all of his wounds tendered to, Link focussed his attention to the comatose attacker. He pulled up a chair to the bedside and simply sat there, passing the time with numerous activities, but never leaving her side. He eventually pulled his hat off to allow his aching ears to recover. Although he still had to do this from time to time, Link did notice that it was becoming less and less often.

After spending some more time waiting, her state of unconsciousness seemed to have passed, for she would occasionally reposition herself in the bed, as though she was intuitively moving to increase comfort. But what caught Link's attention was when her breathing would suddenly increase, to points where she was panting and violently shifting, sometimes murmuring numerous sentences that Link would not be able to catch. It was obvious to him that she was having nightmares, to which Link would ease by playing his Ocarina, calming her down and bringing her breathing back to normal as she continued to sleep.

But as the outbursts came more and more often, Link became increasingly tempted to go beyond simply calming her down. He wondered if it were better if he looked inside her mind itself, see with his own eyes what it was that was causing this and to try and solve it. He had done this at least three times before; each time was for a tortured soul that couldn't pass on, where Link would enter their mind and give them what they needed: the ability to finally move on, to have their souls healed.

He had managed to talk himself out of doing so before because this would have been different from those previous occasions. This woman wasn't dying or dead, thus meaning he was directly meddling with her mind. Which would have put Link off, for it was a total unknown scenario for him, and it may have made matters worse. But given their current circumstances, Link would then continue, she couldn't have been much worse. Also perhaps this would provide her with the first step towards becoming a more stable mind.

Finally convinced that it was the best course of action, Link brought the Ocarina of Time from his lap up to his mouth, where he then closed his eyes.

_Here goes._

He blew into the Ocarina, playing the notes that were taught to him by the mysterious Happy Mask Salesman back in Termina. The first phase of healing a person's soul was to enter their mind. This took slightly longer than usual, but Link eventually found himself not sat next to the mysterious attacker, in an abandoned house, with candles lit to provide light, but inside a huge but empty space, inside the woman's very soul. Although he was no longer holding his Ocarina, he could still feel himself playing the notes as he explored this new area.

The first thing Link noticed, which he found unusual, was that the space had a huge crack directly through the middle, which stretched all the way down to the edge of her soul. Link was confused by this; it was like she had two souls contained within one. Taking a step to the left, then to the right, he found he could move freely between the two sections, but the energies he felt from them were very different; one part gave off a joyful, happy aura, whilst the other gave off a gloomy, depressed energy.

However Link's attentions were drawn elsewhere; as he noticed a short hill in front of him. He walked up it to see what was beyond. But what he saw almost made him lose his concentration on his melody, as at the top of the hill, there was a long drop, which allowed Link to overlook more of her soul. Once there, all he could see were spirits. As far as the melody's power would let him see. And judging from the sorrow he felt from these spirits, they were souls that the woman was… containing, somehow. This eliminated all suspicion that she served a force other than Soul Edge. It made perfect sense to Link that it would use servants to consume souls, for it to feed on presumably at a later time.

Their moans, their sobbing, their groans were almost unbearable for Link.

_How could anyone be this way?_

Link questioned, feeling tempted to stop playing the melody and abandon her. Indeed, the only times Link felt more darkness within one person was when he fought Ganondorf and Majora. But then, even if he did stop playing, then what? He simply abandons her to go and claim more souls? Besides, that was the point of the Song of Healing; to ease the pain and regrets of lost souls, and to return the soul back to its true form as it did with him when he was cursed into the form of a Deku Scrub.

Thus, instead of stopping, Link moved on to the next phase of the melody. As he played the melody, a bright light began to emanate from the hero, which then enveloped the woman's entire soul. The groans of the spirits ceased, as they all turned around in unison to the great light that shone through, blanketing them. To which they happily complied, disappearing one after the other as the light finally welcomed them with a happy afterlife.

After a while, it was done. The light was gone, as were the spirits. Relieved that he would hopefully never have to suffer such a sight again, Link also noticed that the large crack that separated the woman's soul was also gone. He now felt a mixture between the two emotions he felt before, just like it should have been. Link's work here was now done. He went back to playing the original eleven notes that brought him to that place in the first place, which caused him to exit her soul without disturbing her. It was not long before Link was back in the real world, surrounded by ornaments, with the woman lying in front of him, in a deep slumber. She no longer thrashed about as she slept, instead looked completely relaxed and at peace.

But although he had cleared the woman of her past sins, Link now had to ensure that she never slipped back into darkness again, which even Link knew was going to be harder than it sounded.

…

The first sensation Tira registered was a very soothing one. It was so quiet, yet prominent enough that it simply wasn't possible to ignore it. It was somehow relaxing, so much so that it would normally seduce Tira back into her deep slumber. But simultaneously, it was beckoning her away from the area of twilight within her mind, gently pulling her towards the world, like an anchor being slowly raised from the darkness of the seabed, giving her plenty of time to prepare for what was in store.

Then, before long, she saw nothing but the underside of her eyelids, and she regained control over all her limbs. The soothing sound of before was still present but was now less ethereal, as she could describe more clearly what it was. It was the sound of some sort of wind instrument being delicately played behind her.

She opened her eyes, and endured the moment of complete confusion as to where she was; soon discovering she was in a house, on a bed. Her body immediately shot up, her head darting around the pivot of her neck, like a startled bird assessing for any approaching danger. Upon realising that she was safe for now, she relaxed.

It was now that she noticed that something was different. Something had changed, somehow. The environment was clearly different, although her mind was still slightly fazed as to what happened before her slumber, she knew straight away she was brought here. But that wasn't what was causing the impression; it seemed to go deeper than that. The more she thought about it, the more the feeling grew. She placed one hand on the back of her head, and it was then that it hit her…

There was no conflict within her mind.

None of her own voices within her head barking orders at her, or chirping at her reminding her of how great life was, or talking her down as it reminded her of her failures. Instead, it was silent. Nothing but thoughts that she willingly placed there, all of which were a mixture of happy thoughts, sad thoughts, serious thoughts, nonchalant thoughts and every other emotion she could explore. She wasn't sure what to think of this new freedom, while it was daunting that her mind had been suddenly changed, she did appreciate the silence the harmony brought and started to have fun with the countless feelings she was placing within her head.

"Glad to see you are awake!" A voice suddenly announced to her right, making Tira jump and turn straight away to the source.

It was a man, about her age if perhaps slightly older. As she registered his green tunic, green hat, white undergarments, blonde hair and those sparkling blue eyes, Tira quickly remembered that this was the person she confronted.

"You…" She said with venom in her voice, before noticing something different about him this time. Not only were all physical and emotional symptoms of their conflict removed, but there was something else… Then she realised… it was his ears!

The confusion immediately caused her to be scared, and the stranger obviously noticed this as he placed his instrument to the side and drew himself closer to her.

"Relax," he said softly, "you received a heavy blow to the head."

She couldn't quite put her finger on the reason why, but Tira found herself calming down. An action she had never done so easily for as long as she could remember.

"I am surprised; normally the Sonata of Awakening takes effect right away. But for you, I had to play it for quite some time… You must be a very heavy sleeper!" He said with a smile on his face, despite her not understanding a word he just said.

However, as she listened to the stranger's rambling, she didn't notice the anger within her mind fading away. To say that she was happy with him defeating her would be a lie, but something weird would happen within her mind. She would say to herself that "She had it coming" or "He was within his rights to fight back". It was an odd sensation, her mind wasn't fighting with itself as the battle between various emotions raged on, but it instead seemed to answer itself. It had the final word, and she would accept it. Thus, she found it impossible to muster up any feelings of resentment towards this stranger.

And, of course stranger still was that she had just made eye contact with a person other than her Master, but her first thoughts were not those of imagining their cold, lifeless eyes staring into her, or their warm blood spraying onto her body. They never even entered her mind, and Tira never focused on this at all. She instead turned away from the man and back to the rest of her environment, and how she got there. She also didn't notice the man silently blow air out of his mouth as she did this.

The room was rather small and simple, immediately eliminating the chances of her being back at Ostrheinsburg in one of its huge, cold chambers. Strangely, the room appeared rather rusty, as though it hadn't been lived in or even used for quite some time. But she thought no more on this, and scanned the room for her weapon, her mind still weary of what happened for her to get here.

"Where's Eiserne Drossel?!" She hastily gasped, not even looking to the man as she continued to look, feeling naked without her ring-blade by her side.

"Sorry, what?" The man responded.

"Eiserne Drossel!" She lashed back, her head pointed directly at his, making his turn away but keeping eye contact. "My weapon! Where is it?!" She exclaimed, on the verge of flat out shouting at him.

"Oh, that. It is through there." He answered, pointing to a doorway to her left that lead into another room.

Without a moment's hesitation, Tira threw off the blanket that covered her, giving not a care in the world as to whether she was dressed or not. Fortunately for her dignity she was indeed, the stranger had only removed her boots and what little armour she wore. But as she leapt to her feet, her legs suddenly started to wobble uncontrollably, her movements were so sudden that her mind didn't even register this as she made her first step towards the doorway. Of course, relying on one foot which was severely unstable was a mistake, as she fell forwards towards the wooden floor.

In a flash, the stranger sprang out of his chair and made his way around the bed, just in time to catch her falling body.

"Whoa there!" He called out as he placed his arms under her armpits, and stabilised her as though he was steadying a small child. "You are still exhausted; your body requires a little more recuperation."

"I don't care!" She spat back, attempting to shake him off but to no avail.

"Very well," The stranger responded after silence briefly passed between the two. He then repositioned himself so that one of her arms where slung over his shoulders with his hand over hers while his other arm supported her waist, allowing Tira to press all her weight down on him, which the stranger held up with a slight, but manageable strain.

Tira was too shocked to respond to this. Already, countless questions were forming in her head. All of which were central to this stranger. Who was he? Why did he allow her to live? What did he do to her to make her head feel so bizarre? Why did he care for her? What did he want with her? In any other circumstance, she would have violently fought off the individual, for this was showing that she was vulnerable, that she was at her weakest. But once she noticed he was shuffling in the direction of the other room, all questions and attempts to fight him off were postponed. Once she had her ring-blade, she would then decide on what to do.

The two slowly hobbled through the simple archway into the living quarters, and Tira was able to see light shining through, illuminating the room in all its dusted glory. Her senses quickly homed in on the sheathed sword and shield that rested against a wall. But more importantly, she found her ring-blade, sunlight reflecting blindingly from the metal, stood balanced against a wooden chair by a table and directed the stranger towards it. As they progressed, strength was returning to Tira's legs, and she found herself taking on more and more of her own weight.

"There we go." The stranger said after placing her on the chair, and turned momentarily to draw up another chair on the opposite side of the table.

Tira twisted her body so that Eiserne Drossel was in her sight. And once her hand made contact with it, her head turned to the stranger's back, and it was now she was tempted to strike at him now, while he was unarmed.

"So…" He suddenly started, turning to face her as he sat down himself, with his sword and shield within close reach, causing her to proceed no further with the temptations… for now.

"Listen, about what happened…" He continued. "I am very sorry if I hurt you."

_Sorry?..._

She contemplated, having never heard those words in such a context before. The only times they were spoken to her, or eventually by her, was when one's abilities were being mocked by the speaker. But the words used after that phrase, and more importantly, the look in the stranger's eyes made her think differently. The only time Tira had seen a similar emotion was just before she killed her victim, the moment that she would end someone's life, they would show fear in their eyes. So this stranger was… afraid that he had hurt her? And he was apologising for it?

"Right now that that is done, I suggest we start afresh!" The stranger cheerfully chirped, in a tone that annoyed Tira. He then held out his hand across the table. "My name is Link!" He introduced himself… which was then followed by silence. "Um, what is your name?" He then asked, in an attempt to get an answer out of her, which she refused to give. Instead, she sat there, arms crossed, eyes looking anywhere but towards his own. Eventually, he got the message from her, and slowly retracted his arm.

Tira was most definitely not in the mood for making friends. Especially not with the few individuals who had beaten her and were confusing her to no end.

"I hope you do not mind me being straightforward," Link started, noticing she was not being as social as he had hoped. "but why did you attack me?" He then asked, attempting to tilt his head so that it was in her eyesight, only for it to shoot off in another direction.

She was determined to not provide an answer for that question… Which forced him to ask another question:

"Are you acting on behalf of Soul Edge?"

Tira attempted to hide the surprise from her eyes, but watching her slightly arch her head towards him seemed to be enough for the stranger.

"It is O.K I am not here to judge." He added, causing Tira to cast a glance towards the stranger. This, of course, was a mistake as she found herself unable to draw away from him. Despite the severity of his deduction, the stranger was somehow calm, and warm, and most oddly of all, inviting.

"It knows of me, does it not?" He asked, their eyes fixated with each other, with hers flicking rapidly between his.

Even though she was speaking no words, Link seemed to know the answer to each question judging from her expression, as her head would slightly edge away in a different direction in an attempt to hide her uneasiness at her secrets being revealed, but she would ultimately be unable to break eye contact. Even though he was no expert at human psychology, Link knew he was on the right tracks.

But as the picture became clearer and clearer in Link's mind, Tira's was forming a new scheme. She wasn't able to defeat this man, eliminating her chances of simply killing him and taking his soul and sword directly to her Master. But what if she could convince him to join her Master's cause willingly

Looking upon the situation with such a drastically different perspective shocked Tira. It was the first time in a long time she encountered a problem, and rather than challenging it head-on, instead taking a step back and seeing what other solutions may appear. The only other times she did this was assessing her environment in order to make her assassinations as quick, yet as satisfying as possible. And it was this that made Tira less fearful of her new emotions, and start to appreciate them.

"You know with skills like yours you'd make a great servant for Soul Edge!" Tira suddenly blurted out, in an attempt to ignore Link's deductions and rival him in his persuasive abilities. While she was beginning to understand this 'new perspective', she still had no idea how select the most appropriate course of action, leading her to simply saying the first thing that entered her head.

The fact she even spoke shocked Link a little, his wandering mind was drawn back fully to the young assassin. The part of him that always made him prepare for the worst almost made him reach for the hilt of his sword, but he wiped this out of his mind.

"What?!" Link said, unsure as to whether he heard her right.

"Think about it," She continued. "you'd be serving the greatest being the world has seen or ever will see!" Tira added, with her tone becoming more and more accentuated, as though she were telling a story of epic proportions.

The only sensation that was 'epic' for Link, however, was how dumbstruck he was. He sat there, silent, listening to her, constantly questioning as to whether these events were really rolling out before him and unable to answer back.

"Even if you're not worthy of serving him, you'll still be granted to spend an eternity bonded with him." Tira continued, interpreting Link's silence in a completely incorrect matter.

Link still sat in front of her, in a state of total bewilderment. Asking himself questions such as 'Is this why she serves Soul Edge?' and 'She actually believes all this?'. Although he had never encountered Nightmare, Link had been through enough to know the difference between a leader who rewards their servants for their deeds, and monsters who will say anything just to gain as many followers as possible. And for Link, Nightmare fell squarely into the latter category.

"So what'll it be?" Tira asked, causing Link to pay attention to her words once again. "Do you want me to consume your soul for me to pass on to Soul Edge? Or do you want me to take you to him and pledge your allegiance?"

Link paused for a while, it took some time to process all of what she had just said. They had only known each other for a few minutes, before that they were locked in deadly combat. Despite this though, surely she knew enough about him to realise that he had absolutely no intention of joining his cause, whether it was directly or indirectly. Obviously this was not the case, as such he spoke with a very simple answer that would prove this to her once and for all:

"Neither!" He responded, before following up his defiance with a plea of his own "Look I do not know what Soul Edge has promised you but I can guarantee you it will not fulfil them!"

"Shut up! You're lying!" Tira spat back as she slammed her fist onto the table and raised to her now stable feet, not appreciating the feeling of anger brought about when people tell her that her whole life and ambitions were nothing more than ridiculous.

"Am I? Then tell me, what do you think Soul Edge promised that wizard who was sent to my world?" Link calmly said back to her.

"What? Wizard? _Your_ world? What are you talking about?!" Tira asked, no, _demanded_. He was making no sense whatsoever, and she was in no mood to decipher what he was saying, or what point he was making.

"The wizard who was a good man until he became possessed by Soul Edge and slaughtered his entire family. The wizard who came to my world by Soul Edge's will and subsequently committed suicide after realising what he had become." Link answered, his eyes slowly trailing off the young woman stood before him as the memories of witnessing his suicide came flooding back, an occurrence that he would rather forget.

"… He was weak."

"And Soul Edge thinks you're not?" Link asked her. A part of him felt guilty for saying such harsh things to her, especially since he did not know any of this for certain. But there were primarily two things he remembered that made him continue. One was that it may dissuade her from walking down a path that was bound to end badly. And the other was that, if nothing else, it removed one more obstacle (and another fight) from Link's journey towards his goal.

And upon hearing these words, and reflecting upon all of her memories with her Master, Tira did indeed find some truth in them.

"I'm not gonna listen to this!" Tira said back, still unwilling to listen to any reason. She suddenly started storming off, away from the table, until he spoke.

"Well then, it looks as though you have two choices: One, you leave me here and return to your Master, then tell him you failed in your task." Tira stopped where she was, and Link knew he had her full attention once again. "Or two, you can stay with me and guide me to your Master. If he is as powerful as you say he is, then I will either die or join him, either way you will have completed your assignment."

Tira stood where she was for quite some time, refusing to turn back to the stranger. He also spoke no more words to her, he had made his argument,

"So what shall it be?" Link echoed the words spoken by her earlier.

Tira then looked towards her ring-blade as it leaned against the furniture. There was, of course, a third option: killing him. But remembering their battle, it was obvious even to Tira that he was better than her. Perhaps not better at fighting in general, but definitely better at being able to adapt to different situations. If she were to defeat him she would need to witness him in battle once again, find out what his strengths and weaknesses were, then she could use this to her advantage.

And even if that, for whatever reason, did not work out there was always the option of simply persevering, of killing him when he least expected it. Their journey to Ostrheinsburg would be one rife with opportunities. But as the stranger said, if these do not materialise, then he will surely meet his end when he confronts her Master. Better yet she would not have failed in her task, for she had indeed done exactly as her Master ordered.

"Fine, I'll take you to him." She said, regretfully admitting defeat.

"Alright then." Link acknowledged with some cheer, very pleased at having avoided another battle with her. "When shall we leave?" He then asked, as he watched her approach her ring blade, rest it over her shoulder and gaze back at him.

"Now." She answered in a tone what wasn't so much a suggestion as it was a command.

Link did not debate this, in fact he was glad: the sooner they departed, the sooner they would arrive. That, and she was obviously teething with rage at him for having bested her once again, so Link wisely decided to raise no more conflicts with her for the time being.

"Agreed, I will go and gather my equipment." Link informed her, raising to his feet and walking back to the bedroom they emerged from.

Tira's eyes drifted away from him as he did this, and was drawn to the glaring light through the entrance. She had utmost confidence that she could find her way back to the castle, it became second nature to her during her childhood and early teenage years, when she was away on her own little adventures. Adventures that usually ended with someone dead. Tira would have often travelled to places she had never heard of, find her own way around it and then been expected to return to her home, all while being undetected. So while the concern was raised as to whether she too was lost, it was quickly diminished.

No, her main concern was how she was going to cope with travelling alongside a person who, frankly, annoyed her immensely. Although her memory was being very selective, she couldn't remember being irritated by anyone more. And already the temptation to take his life was becoming more and more desirable.

"By the way, my name is Link!" He suddenly introduced himself as he was walking past her line of sight.

Tira looked to something that was extended out to her from Link, only to find it was a hand with its palm open, waiting for her to take it.

_He must be joking..._

She thought, still not being very fond of him. Her eyes then shifted to his face, which sported a smile and a gleam of happiness in his eyes. It was an expression she had never seen before, not directed towards her anyway, and despite his every action filling her with anger, confusion or any other unwanted emotion, Tira found herself being absorbed by this man's kindness.

But it was not long before she shook it off, her eyes darting away from him and continued to walk towards the outside world. She didn't alter her course, forcing Link to move out of her way. She smirked slightly since she knew he would, convincing her that she still had some grip over him. Which probably explains her next action...

"Tira." She calls over her shoulder to him.

Link was surprised to hear such a belated answer from her, and while he did find it extremely arrogant of her to turn down his introduction, he admitted that there were worse ways of finding out her name.

He went around the house, lifting his shield and scabbard onto his back, attaching his pouches to his belt and placing his bottles back in said pouches, before proceeding to the front door. Link drew in a deep breath, allowing his lungs to take in fresh air once again as he scanned the surroundings of the sun-baked, but deceased village. It did not take long for him to notice Tira, who had apparently already started her march, as she was several paces ahead of him.

_Here we go._

He thought as he started to jog slowly towards his new guide.

Thinking of her made Link thank his luck that he managed to get some sleep during the previous night; because there was no way he was going to let himself rest tonight. Not even close his eyes for a second. It was perhaps mistrusting of him, but in this case the risk of her attacking him was too high. He simply couldn't risk lowering his defences for any period of time. But even though he was in absolute grave peril at all times and was playing a very dangerous game, his mouth still formed a small smile. It was not until now that he realised, he finally had that which truly made this a new adventure: a companion.


End file.
